Pokemon Delta Emerald Abridged
by Rednova66
Summary: The Following is a fan based parody. Pokemon and all it's games, Characters, and storylines belong to GAME FREAK. Please support the official games. But not the anime. The Anime sucks. Now also on Wattpad.
1. Hoenn

**The following is a fan made parody of what rumors are saying will be saying Pokemon Emerald Version's remake will look like. Pokemon is owned by Nintendo, Game Freak, etc. Pokemon and it's characters belong to GAME FREAK. Our adventure begins with Brendan, obviously:**

Damn, that was the fiftieth time I'd bruised my arm on this bumpy ride. The clutter and lack of fresh air didn't make things much better. And I kept accidently kicked that stupid box Mom wanted me to stay out of for whatever reason. I can still remember the day in Johto when…

Bang! The truck was going over a few bumps, to say the least. The truck turned a corner and finally came to a stop. The back doors opened and I jumped out.

"Oh, Brendan!" Mom came into view from the side of the Moving Truck. "Wasn't it tough riding in the back of the bumpy moving truck all that way?" She didn't even tell me we were moving. Seriously, I just went to bed, then woke up in that truck.

"No, it was just dand-"

"Well, this is Littleroot Town. What do you think?"

"I think it's full of shi-"

"This is going to be our new home! And you get your own room this time Brendan!"

"I love Hoenn!"

"You should go and see your new room upstairs, Brendan! Dad bought you a clock to celebrate the big move!"

"Not a hooker?"

"What?"

"A clock is just dandy!" I said on my way upstairs. I set the time, and made my way back downstairs. I immediately went to the fridge, shuffled past Mom's vodka, and grabbed a soda.

"Oh! Brendan! Brendan! Quick! Come quickly!"

"You want me to what now?"

"It's the Petalburg Gym! Maybe Dad will be on TV!

"We brought you this live report from in front of Petalburg Gym. Next up, a special look at a long-awaited meteor shower in the next star show…"

"Oh, it's already ended." Mom said, which was weird because I remember hearing her say that exact same sentence to Dad through the wall of my old bedroom.

"Looks like your Dad was on, but we missed his part. What a shame."

"I don't see the shame in a lot of things."

"But that reminds me, one of Dad's friends lives in this town. Professor Birch is his name. He lives right next door, you should go introduce yourself."

"Uuuuuuuggggghhhhh, fiiiiiiiiine."

Thirty seconds later found me next door. I knocked on the door, and was answered by a mid aged woman.

"Oh, hello. And you are?" She greeted me.

"My name's Brendan, I just moved in next door."

"Oh, you're Brendan, our new next door neighbor! Welcome! We have a daughter about the same age as you."

"Thank- Wait, what?"

"She's been so excited about making a new friend. She should be in her room upstairs. I hope you'll go and introduce yourself!"

"Are you sure, that could lead to an awkward situation." I inquired, but the woman was already walking into the kitchen. I sighed.

"Fine," and upstairs I went. The sight of a girl whose back was facing me immediately greeted me. She had a red sleeveless jacket on, a longer white shirt underneath, and black shorts with a small bag strapped to her waist. Her light brown hair was kept in two long bangs framing her face, with a bandana behind them that apparently gave them gravity-defying powers. "Pokemon fully restored, items all ready, and…" Then she noticed me.

"Excuse me, what are you doing in my room?"

"Well your mother said-"

"Of course she did." The girl sighed, "So you must be Brendan! Your move was today, huh?" I sensed the mood getting lighter. "Well, I'm May! Glad to meet you!" She giggled.

Oh, I'm going to love Hoenn.

"I… I actually have this dream about meeting all kinds of Pokemon around the world and becoming friends with them. And when my Dad told me about you moving here, I was hoping you would be nice, and we could be friends."

May blinked.

"..But that's just silly, isn't it?" She stammered. "I've just met you. Right, Brendan?"

"Hey, just because we barely know each other doesn't mean we can't be friends."

With benefits, I hope.

"Oh, no! I forgot! I was supposed to be going out to help Dad catch some wild pokemon! Brendan, I'll see you later!"

And she left the room in a hurry. I turned to follow but then noticed one of her dresser drawers was open.

Five minutes later found me exiting the Birch's household and taking a walk around town. Finally I came across the town's exit. And was greeted by a scream.

"H-help me!"

I dashed out to see what was going down. I thought team rocket had made it to Hoenn and was holding someone at knifepoint.

Instead I beheld the sight of a grown man running from a small Pokemon.

"Halloo! You over there! Please! Help me out!"

"How much do I get paid for this?" I yelled back.

"In my Bag! There are some Poke balls!"

"Not the payment my services require!"

"Oh, for Arceus' sake, help me!" I sighed again and dug around and came up with three pokeballs, one marked with a flame, a water droplet, and a leaf. I picked the one with fire on it. It opened and out jumped a small orange chick pokemon with yellow feathers. "Torchic!" It chirped as it faced the Poochyena. "Torchic! Ember!" A small fireball shot from Torchic's mouth and hit the Poochyena, heavily damaged it, though it managed a tackle.

Torchic didn't seem to badly hurt. "Ember!" I shouted once more. Torchic repeated the move and the Poochyena fainted.

After the battle, the man thanked me. "Hoo, I went into the tall grass to survey Pokemon, when I was jumped! Scared the shit out of me!" He panted.

"It was a ****ing Poochyena."

"Hey, those things can bite!" He replied. "Oh? But you're Norman's boy, Brendan! I didn't even realize who you were at first. You've grown into quite the young man."

"You hitting on me?"

"This isn't the place for a chat, though. Come along to my lab."

"At least take me out to dinner first."

We stepped into the lab. It was a decent sized building, bookshelves and computer desks lined the white walls.

"So, Brendan! I've heard much about you from your father."

My mind flashed back to a conversation I overheard my Dad have with Professor Birch a few months ago.

"Well, yeah, but he's not gonna get any tail if he stays in his room all the time. What? A journey? Yeah, that'll work!"

Flashback end.

"But he said that you don't have your own Pokemon yet. If that's true, that was quite the performance back there! Looks like you really are your father's son!"

"As much as you'd like to believe that's a compliment, it's really not."

"Oh, yes! To say thanks for rescuing me out there, how about I give you that Pokemon you used earlier?"

I was just about to ask him about payment. He handed me the Poke Ball.

"You know, if you work with your pokemon and gain experience, I think you'll make a pretty excellent trainer. My girl, May,"

"Yeah I know her," I said.

"Do you, now?" Professor Birch asked.

"More than you know," I replied.

"…She happens to be out on route 103 right now, surveying Pokemon for me."

And that's why I was on route 103 ten minutes later.


	2. Meeting May

I finally found May on route 103. She hadn't noticed me as I approached.

"Let's see… On route 103, I found this Pokemon…and this one…and this one, too…"

She noticed me.

"Oh! Hey, Brendan!"

"Sup."

"What's that?" She inquired about the Poke Ball in my hand.

"Yeah, your Dad gave me a Pokemon after I heroically saved him from a-"

"So it was a gift." May deadpanned.

"… Must you insult me?" I asked.

She flashed an adorable and yet menacing smile, "Well then, if you're so confident, why don't we go ahead and have a quick battle? I'll give you a taste of what being a trainer is really like!"

"Go! Mudkip!" A small blue mud-fish Pokemon appeared in a flash of light.

"Go Torchic, Scratch!" Torchic appeared and charged Mudkip and managed to swipe it's claws on Mudkip. "Tackle!" Mudkip tackled Torchic. "Really? Scratch!"

Mudkip was once again scratched. Torchic was once again tackled. This was getting redundant really quickly.

A few minutes later after this routine, and Mudkip was defeated.

"Well shit." May sighed and returned Mudkip to her Poke Ball. "Wow! Brendan, you're really good."

"Won't be the last time you say that."

"Don't get ahead of yourself." May frowned. She handed over 200 pieces.. "Here, I'll heal our Pokemon real quick." Torchic was healed and off we were, May grumbling to herself.

We arrived in Littleroot Town, and May led me back into the lab. "Oh, Brendan, over here." She pointed to the back of the lab, where the professor stood.

"So I hear you beat May on your first try. That's amazing." May rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Dad, no need to further acknowledge my failure."

"Hush, young lady," The Professor reprimanded her.

"May's been helping with my research for a long time, so she has a pretty long history as a trainer already. Mm-hmm! I think that settles it! Brendan, I ordered this Pokedex for my research, but I think you should take it."

He handed me a small red colored handheld device.

"That Pokedex is a high-tech tool that automatically makes a record of any Pokemon you meet or catch. The people and Pokemon you meet! They will both help you grow as-"

But May had handed me ten Poke balls and I was on my way out already.

I headed straight for the Littleroot town exit.

"Brendan! Wait!" I heard Mom call.

"Brendan! Did you introduce yourself to Professor Birch yet?"

"Yeah, bit of a dork, but he's nice enough."

"Oh, and he gave you a Pokemon! How adorable!"

"How'd you know I got a Pokemon?"

"Oh, silly boy!" Mom said in her high pitched Mom voice, "When you were little, I told you I'd never leave your side, and I didn't mean it figuratively!"

…

What. "Mom, go home." "But-" "Go home. You're drunk." I turned on my heel and left the town.

On my way up rout 101, May caught up to me. "Hey, Brendan!" She yelled. "This is from my dad. He said he forgot to give it to you before."

She promptly upgraded my Pokenav. "There, I added the DexNav. It can tell you lots about the pokemon living in each specific area and stuff." She said. "I'm going ahead. See you!" May grinned and ran off. Full of energy, that one. I managed to catch up to her though, as she was staring at one of the small patches of tall grass, where something was wiggling. "Hey, Brendan," May whispered, "That's a wild pokemon hiding there. Try using your DexNav and sneak up on it."

"Finally, a chance to show off my Ninja skills!"

"I'll believe it when I see it." May responded. So I proceeded to sneak up on the Pokémon in hiding. I checked the DexNav. It was a Poochyena. I snuck up and managed to toss out Torchic's Pokeball. "Torchic, Scratch!" Torchic clawed the Poochyena.

"Grrrrr!" Poochyena responded with an Ice Fang. An Ice Fang. How does it know Ice Fang? "Well then." I grinned and threw a Pokeball. It bounced off Poochyena's nose, and Poochyena was sucked inside. After two wobbles, it clicked, signifying the dog's capture. After returning Torchic, I walked back to May.

"Pretty amazing for a noob," May teased, "I've been at this way longer than you, and even I have a hard time sneaking up like that without being noticed."

May decided to linger on route 101 for a while. I continued to Oldale Town, which was north or route 101 and south of 103. I healed Torchic and Poochyena. I then headed west on route 102. A flock of Wingull flew overhead as I trekked along. I was glad to be out of the house, even though I'd been there for about ten minutes. I continued along the path, recalling a rule I'd heard on TV once, something along the lines of "if two trainers' eyes meet, you have to battle." As if by some weird coincidence, my peaceful walk was interrupted by a young boy yelling at me.

"Hey, if you have Pokemon with you, then you're an official Pokemon Trainer! You can't say no to my challenge!"

"Actually-"

Youngster Calvin sent out Zigzagoon!

"Go, Torchic!"

"Chic, Torch!" Torchic chirped. "Ember!" A short but satisfying sizzle was heard as the attack hit its mark. "Zigzagoon, Tackle!" Torchic sustained little damage from that. "Tsk, Tsk, Motherfucker." I sighed. "Ember." The fireball hit once more and Zigzagoon keeled over.

"Arrgh, I lost… I should have trained mine more."

"You're going places kid."

And off I was, after collecting my money. Then The DexNav beeped as I simultaneously heard rustling in nearby grass. I walked up to it and sent out Torchic once more. It was a Seedot. "Scratch!" Torchic clawed it. It responded with what was apparently Beat Up. "Scratch again!" Torchic raked his claws on Seedot's body. Seedot then used growth. "Go, Pokeball!" The Pokeball bounced off of Seedot's body. It opened and Seedot was sucked inside. And then promptly burst out of it. "Shit."

So I tried again. The Pokeball bounced off, sucked the Pokémon inside and wobbled. And clicked. "Oh, thank Arceus, that one was stubborn." I picked up the Pokeball and returned to the Pokemon Center to heal it.

Once I returned, passed what's his name the youngster without making eye contact that time, and spotted another kid with a Butterfree net. He swung it around at either was nothing or something I couldn't see. So I approached.

"Oi, wat r u doin' m8?"

"Haha! Our eyes met! I'll take you on with my bug Pokemon!"

"Actually, kid, I was wondering about-"

Bug Catcher Rick sent out Wurmple.

"Kid." I sent out Poochyena. "Ice Fang!" The worm Pokémon's health was cut in half.

"Tackle!" Poochyena winced as Wurmple recklessly slammed its body into his. "Repeat Ice fang!"

Wurmple collapsed.

"Ow! Down and out!" Rick exclaimed. I got more moola. Since Poochyena was at a bit of a lower level than Torchic, I decided to train him and Seedot for a while. Along the way, my DexNav beeped once more. So I followed it's signal to a rustling patch of grass, to find a Surskit. Seedot went first, but it was low level, so I immediately switched out to Poochyena. Surskit used Fell Stinger. Poochyena, being a dark type was severely weak to that attack and fainted.

At this point I considered just mowing the little bug over and moving on with my day. Torchic can teach this thing not to mess with us.

"Ember!" Torchic shot the Surskit with a small fireball. Did a good amount of damage. Surskit responded with Fell stinger, which made me laugh.

"Don't you know any water type moves?" "Sur! Surskit!" "Sorry I asked. Ember!"

Surskit was almost done, but mustered up the strength for a Fell Stinger attack. I sighed. "Might as well." I aimed and threw a Pokeball. It wobbled and clicked.


	3. Training

A little more exploring found me facing another "Youngster" Trainer named Allen.

"Did you just become a trainer?"

"Dang straight, son."

"We're both beginners!" he exclaimed as he sent out a Poochyena. I sent out Seedot. I immediately resorted to the switch out method. "Torchic!" Allen's dog greeted Torchic with a tackle.

"Ember!"

This dog must have been weak, because it staggered and swayed after that one attack. Allen knew it, too. "Howl!" Torchic's attack power fell. "Scratch!" Torchic did just that, and the opponent Poochyena fainted. Allen then sent out a Taillow.

"Ember!"

Taillow fainted. "Are you serious?"

"I challenged you because I thought I could beat you…"

"Well you thought wrong, didn't you? Fork it over!" I collected what little he had of college tuition and walked away.

I noticed two unfamiliar plants standing over yonder, and trekked on over to them. One had Oran berries, which I was acquainted with. The other had Pecha Berries, not uncommon in Johto. There were two Pecha Berries, and Oran berries also had two. After turning back around from putting them in a small container in my bag, I turned to find the plants had vanished.

"Wait, wha…" I decided either I was high off the berry fumes, or the plants had literally died and decomposed in the five seconds my back was turned. So I planted one of each of the berries where the plants were. After calming my own conscience that I wasn't clinically insane, I moved on.

I was sure there were no more trainers until I saw a young girl standing along the path.

"Hi."

"I'm going to keep winning and aim to be the best trainer."

"Never asked about your life goals."

"Help me further my career!"

"I tried to help my mom further her career. Didn't go so well."

Lass Tiana sent out the twentieth Zigzagoon I had seen that day.

I sent out Seedot, then switched it out for Torchic. "Tackle!"

"Ember!"

"Tackle!"

"Holy Dialga, this is redundant! Ember!"

Zigzagoon fainted. I collected my money as the girl told me, "I ended up furthering your career…"

"I'm a fourteen year old, I have no career. Neither does Mom."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just getting out of the house for a few…. Months. Years. Forever."

At the end of the route, with Petalburg City in site, I was almost there when:

"Heeeeeey!"

"Yo."

May had caught up to me.

"How's it going, Brendan?"

"Pretty good, knocking some heads."

"Have you been using your DexNav and perfecting your sneaking skills?"

"I watched Teenage mutant Ninja Squirtles when I was younger. I got this down already."

"Oh, well aren't you special. Ah, look!" I turned to see a couple Beautiflies flying up out of the rustling dark green pine trees and they fluttered up and over Petalburg. They were kinda majestic.

"Well, we've already made it through route 102, huh?"

"I beat all of the trainers for you."

"Thanks. Hey, Brendan, your Dad's the Gym leader of Petalburg City, right?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"Maybe I should try to take him on myself after I train up my Pokemon a bit more!"

"Honestly he could use someone to take him down a notch or two."

"Like father like son."

"Don't you sass me."

"Guess I'm off then, Brendan! Let's meet up again sometime!"

She's flirting with me like her Dad was.

Like father like daughter.

I entered Petalburg and first arrived at the Pokemon Center. After getting healed up, I exited, and, with much reluctance, started towards the Petalburg gym.

 **Sorry, this Chapter was a bit short, but the next one we meet Wally, so I figured this was a good ending point.**


	4. Wally

I approached the Petalburg gym to see my Dad talking to a young boy with glasses out front of the gym.

"Not bad… It was a good battle." Dad said, though I could tell he was trying to not laugh.

"Thank you, sir!" The kid bowed.

"Come back and challenge me anytime. I'll be looking forward to seeing you and your Pokemon again when you're a bit stronger."

"Yes sir! Thank you, sir!" The kid turned, started sobbing, and ran away.

"Hm? Why, if it isn't Brendan. Did Mom drive you up here?" He chuckled. Mom can't legally drive. Then again, neither could the truck driver.

"So, you're finished moving in?"

"Yes. And I have to ask, a clock? Seriously? You could have given me a much better present for my fourteenth birthday."

"Like?"

"A playboy magazine subscription. A car. Hell, I'd have settled for a fake ID."

"Let's discuss this inside."

The lobby of the Gym was mainly constructed of wood, as boards crossed the floor, kept up the walls, and the ceiling.

"Ah, I see. You're making a good start on your team! I guess you're going to become a trainer like me, Brendan?"

"Like you? No."

"Now that's something to look forward to!" Dad laughed.

"Um, excuse me?" A small boy I hadn't even noticed had entered the lobby inquired. He was short, with green hair and eyes, wearing a simple light blue jacket and jeans.

"I'd like to get a Pokemon please."

"Hm, aren't you…You're Wally, right?"

"Yes, I'm supposed to go stay with my relatives in Verdanturf town for a while. But I thought I might be lonely by myself, so I wanted to bring a Pokemon with me."

"Kid, you're never lonely with a playboy magazine. Right, Dad?"

"Shush, Brendan."

"I've never caught a Pokemon by myself, I'm not sure if I can." Wally continued.

"Mm-hmm. I see. Brendan! You heard all that, right?"

"Yes." No.

"You go with Wally and make sure that he safely catches a Pokemon. Wally, here. I'll lend you one of my Pokemon."

"Dad. Don't give him that lazy Slakoth."

"It's Zigzagoon."

Still cheap as ever.

"I'll give you a Pokeball too, but it's my last one, so give it your best shot!"

That box in the corner is filled with the things, but whatever. Wally and I headed out.

Once again on route 102, Wally and I walked down the path.

"My Dad's a cheap bastard by the way."

"Oh, I know."

"Good. Pokemon usually hide in the tall grass right like that." I jerked my thumb at the patch to our left. Wally waded in and it wasn't long before a Ralts startled him.

"Go, Zigzagoon! Tackle!"

That took out a decent amount of Ralt's health, to which it responded with growl.

Then Zigzagoon tackled it again. Ralts Growled again.

Wally threw a Pokeball. It bounced off Ralt's head, wobbled, once, twice, sold.

"Thanks, Brendan, let's head back to the gym."

After returning Zigzagoon:

"Did it go well?"

"Yes it did. Thank you, Mr. Norman." Wally replied. "Hey, Brendan, you're the first kid I know who didn't immediately make jokes about my hair. Here's my number and a few PokeNav apps for you."

He updated my PokeNav (Why aren't they just called phones?), and we parted on good terms.

"Well, Brendan, I hope we meet again."

I smiled and shook his hand. Dad chuckled, "Hey, what about me Wally?"

"Uh…." Wally smiled, waved and left.

"That boy will be worth keeping an eye on. But for now… Brendan, if you want to become strong as a trainer, listen to my advice."

"No thank you."

"Go challenge Roxanne, the gym leader of Rustboro City-"

I left the building.

Route 104 ran along the beach. I saw a few trainers, what appeared to be a fishing cabin, and the Petalburg woods beyond.

I first started along on the sand, choosing a youngster who kept walking in circles.

"Leaving footprints in the sand is so fun!"

"'Kay."

Youngster Billy sent out Seedot. I responded with Poochyena.

"Ice fang!"

"Bide!" Seedot started storing up power. Poochyena coated his canine teeth with cold energy and bit the acorn Pokemon, doing substantial damage.

"Again!"

Poochyena repeated the move, not giving Seedot the time to power up. Seedot fainted face first into the sand.

Billy sent out a Taillow next.

"Ice fang!"

Taillow was faster though, as it was able to tackle Poochyena. But Poochyena managed to land his attack as well, doing good damage. Taillow growled, but the lower half of it's body was frozen in ice. I couldn't keep from laughing.

"Hey, Stop it!" Billy yelled. "It's not funny!"

"Well then, maybe you'll like this a little more! Ice Fang!"

Poochyena landed the attack once more. Taillow fainted as the ice melted to the heat of the beach.

"Waah! I got sand in my runners! They're all gritty!" Billy cried and ran away.

Continuing, my DexNav beeped when I walked past a patch of tall grass. I snuck up to the rustling patch of grass, to find a female Wurmple. "Poochyena!" The Wurmple was way too low leveled to withstand any of Poochyena's attacks, so I just threw a Pokeball. It wobbled a little then clicked.

I also found more Oran and Pecha berries.

Next, when attempting to continue down the pathway, my DexNav beeped again. This time, it was a Zigzagoon.

"Seriously, I've fought at least twenty of these things! Let's see here, level 5, Female, holding a revive… Wait. Holy Palkia, Yes!"

Figuring I could have a cute little raccoon companion to add to my army, I approached.

"Ice Fang!" I was nervous about this, because one, if Zigzagoon fainted, I couldn't catch it and get the revive. I wasn't sure she could withstand one of Poochyena's attacks.

Zigzagoon was actually quite a fast one, as she managed to get in a tail whip, then dodged Poochyena's fangs. "Try again!" Zigzagoon growled, then, to my amazement, dodged again.

"Damn."

So I switched out to Surskit, so it used it's only attack, Fell Stinger. Zigzagoon hit it with tail whip first, then dodged.

"How on Mew's green and blue earth are you doing that? I want to add you to my team!" Figuring that if I tried to throw a Pokeball now, It wouldn't work, so I tried Fell Stinger. It actually landed that time, but didn't do much, which is what I was counting on.

"Again!" Surskit managed to land the attack first, and then Zigzagoon hit it with tail whip.

"Again," I sighed.

Zigzagoon was actually low now, so I threw the ball. It clicked.

Zigzagoon handed over the revive happily after I healed it with a potion. My team was full now, but there was still one Pokémon I still wanted on this route. Searching the route some more, taking out the occasional Wurmple, I kept going until I finally found a Taillow. It was a male, only level three according to the pokedex, and probably couldn't withstand Poochyena's ice fang. And I only had one Pokeball on hand.

So I switched out to Zigzagoon.

"Tackle!" Taillow withstood that, so I threw the ball and crossed my fingers.

It clicked.


	5. Silcoon, Slakoth, and Criminals

Having retreated to the Petalburg Pokemon Center, I switched out Taillow for Wurmple.

Once I had made it back to route 104, I continued straight towards the Petalburg woods. Some snooty rich kid unfortunately stopped me.

"Oh, sure, I'll accept your challenge. I have a lot of money."

"First of all, you challenged me. Second, I know you're baiting me with the money, but you're right. Let's do this."

Rich kid Winston sent out Zigzagoon!

"Go now, Poochyena!"

"Tackle!" The attack landed, but didn't do much. "Ice fang!"

Zigzagoon was frozen solid in ice. Now was my chance to switch out to another Pokémon.

"Go, Taillow! Peck!"

Taillow pecked him.

"You better check yourself before you peck yourself!" I exclaimed then laughed.

It frustrated him even more, because his Pokémon was frozen solid and he couldn't fight back. "Peck!"

We repeated this several times until Winston surprised me by using a full restore.

"Hang on, aren't those supposed to be really expensi-"

"….."

"Never mind." I sighed and switched out to Surskit.

A couple of Tail whips and Fell stinger attacks later found Surskit low on health and Zigzagoon moderately damaged. Well, time for the ace.

"Go, Torchic!"

Another Tail whip from them.

"Ember!" The fireball hit its mark and Zigzagoon fainted.

I took all the money the guy had with him.

Having to retreat once more into the Pokemon center, I also stocked up on Poke balls and got a Premier Ball as an added bonus apparently. Off I went to Petalburg woods once more. I then had to battle another bug catcher.

"I caught a whole bunch of Pokemon!" He exclaimed in my face.

"Good for you!" I sarcastically exclaimed right back.

Bug Catcher Lyle sent out Wurmple!

"Go, Poochyena, Ice fang!"

Poochyena bit the bug with cold infused fangs.

Wurmple replied with string shot, which Poochyena shook off of himself.

"Ice fang!" Wurmple fainted. So Lyle sent out a Wurmple.

"Ice Fang," I said with less enthusiasm. The battle went on like this for a while until the Wurmple fainted.

So Lyle sent out another fricking Wurmple. I switched Poochyena out for Taillow.

"Peck," I said.

Taillow simply pecked the Wurmple's brains out until the battle was no more.

"I had all these pokemon, but I still couldn't win." Lyle complained.

I just moved on. I found a paralyze heal on the ground for whatever reason. My DexNav beeped. I came across a female Cascoon. So Poochyena was called upon.

"Ice fang!" The attack landed and did a goo chunk of damage. Cascoon used Harden, much like I do when I see Playboy magazine. Anyway, wash, rinse, repeat, and I soon had myself a Cascoon in a premier ball.

After I recover from that fight, my DexNav beeped yet again. This time is was a level five female Slakoth. Now, the first thing that went through my mind was Oh Great, the laziest of all pokemon. But I figured, screw it, I'll give it a whirl. So Taillow came out and pecked her. It retaliated with scratch. It didn't do much to Taillow, but after pecking it a second time, Slakoth did nothing. Absolutely nothing.

"Lazy. Peck!"

The Attack repeated, and Slakoth was badly hurt now. But then it surprised me by scratching Taillow even harder.

The little fucker had scored a critical hit. Now Taillow was almost down. So I threw the poke ball. Wobble, CRACK!

Slakoth actually escaped. Maybe this thing wasn't nearly as lazy as I had thought. I switched out to Seedot. Slakoth scratched. I threw another ball. Wobble, Wobble, Wobble, Click!

The deed was done.

I continued and saw a man in what I think was a lab coat. Looking around nervously.

"Hmmm…Not one to be found…" he muttered.

"Oi," I greeted him.

"Hello, have you seen any Pokemon called Shroomish around here?"

"Mushrooms? I suggest weed. Doesn't screw up your body as badly."

"No, the Pokemon. I love Shroomish."

Just then a guy in black pants, a white and blue striped shirt, and a dark blue bandana on his head with a skull and cross bones symbol came into view.

"Aye, I was goin' to ambush you, but you had to dawdle in Petalburg woods forever, didn't you? I got sick of waiting, so here I am!"

"Aye, Matey, what are ye talking about?" I teased his pirate persona.

"I'm here for the goods!"

"That'll be thirty bucks an hour. Fifty if you want it weird."

"You! Devon Researcher! Hand over those Papers!"

The scientist scampered and hid behind me. "Aiyeeeh! You're a pokemon trainer, aren't you? You've got to help me, please!"

"Once again, that'll be Thirty bucks."

Team Aqua Grunt sent out Poochyena!

"Go, Taillow!" I had forgot that Taillow was low on health, so I used a potion first.

"Tackle!"

Taillow winced and fluttered back a foot or two. "Peck!"

"Tackle!"

"Potion," I was a little embarrassed and was wondering whether or not I could shank this guy afterwards. "Tackle!" "Peck!" "Howl!"

His Poochyena cried out.

"Peck!"

By now, his dog couldn't take much more. "Tackle!" Then again, neither could Taillow.

I had to go first. "Peck!" Taillow hit first and Poochyena fainted.

"You're so strong!" The guy exclaimed.

"Good Giratina, why is everyone hitting on me?"

I collected more money, so it didn't matter, I suppose.

"Grrr… You've got some nerve meddling with team aqua!"

"Team Aqua? Are you guys like Team Rocket?"

"Not at all!"

"Oh my Lugia, you are exactly like Team Rocket!"

"Shut up! Battle me again! I wish I could say that, but I'm out of-"

SHANK!

After releasing his Poochyena and disposing of the body, the Scientist thanked me.

"Whew… That was awfully close! Thanks to you, he didn't rob me of these important papers."

"You heard me. Thirty bucks."

"I've got something better! I'll give you this as my thanks!" He handed me an item apparently called an Experience Share.

"The Exp. Share is a super high tech device. I had to strain every fiber of my brain and body to develop this device!"

"Exaggerating."

"Yeah. Turn the switch on, and the battle experience will be shared by all party pokemon! Please, give it a try!"

"I'm not sure if I can accept this as payment…"

"And I'll fully heal your pokemon right now!"

"Done."

"Great, now just hand me your balls!"

"Hey, didn't that Team Aqua what's his bucket say they were after something in Rustboro too?" The Scientist dude asked. Then he must have realized, because then he shouted, "Uh-oh! It's a crisis! I can't be wasting any time!" He waddled off into the forest.

I shrugged and continued casually.

Taking out another bug catcher, Taillow learning Quick Attack, and finding an ether on the ground, I finally exited the woods to find some sort of hop with a youngster walking around it's front yard.

"Hey, kid,"

"Wassup?"

"What's this shop over here?"

"I like to shout at the top of my lungs! It feels good!"

"Kid, I'm asking about the-"

"You can have this, so you try it out!"

He shoved a little CD case into my hands. The disc itself was a gray color.

"Use it on a Pokemon, and it'll learn to attack with it's voice! If the attack is used several times in a row, it becomes more powerful!"

The disc had the words " _TM 49: Echoed Voice_ " on it.

"Oh, thanks."

"A word of advice! A TM, or technical machine, can be used many times. It won't go away. So try it out as many times as you want!" He grinned and walked away whistling.

So even though I never learned what I wanted to learn, this technical machine could come in handy. And it had a number, so there are more…

Anyway, I started towards the shop.


	6. Flowers and Berries

So that was the "Pretty petal Flower Shop" or as I'll call it, "The barbie version of Gamestop."

But the berries just outside were useful. And the girls inside gave me a few things including an oran berry (which Taillow found delicious), a watering pail shaped like a Wailmer, and a lesson about flowers.

(A/N after the Flower Shop, my DexNav found a level 7 Taillow that knew Supersonic. Had to switch it with the level 9 Taillow I already had. Let's say Brendan's already knows it.)

Continuing along, I ended up meeting a cute girl named Cindy.

"We must have been fated to meet. May I ask you for a battle?" See this, Trainers? This is how to challenge someone.

"Of course, M'lady."

She sent out a Zigzagoon. I sent out Taillow. "Peck!"

Zigzagoon winced, but used a tackle. "Peck again!"

Zigzagoon responded with growl.

"Peck!"

"Tackle," Cindy commanded.

Both Pokemon were getting tired. Either I got the first move this round or Taillow lost. Zigzagoon withstood it actually, even though Taillow pecked first, and tackled Taillow, who fainted.

"It's alright buddy, you tried." Taillow got sucked inside his poke ball. "Go, Poochyena!"

The Dog howled and entered the battle. Then Cindy used a full restore.

"Ice fang!" Zigzagoon was slightly damaged. "Again!" Zigzagoon used Tail whip first, but Poochyena's attack landed. "Repeat!"

Zigzagoon was low once again. "Once more!"

Zigzagoon fainted as soon as the blow landed.

"Oh, My!" Cindy gasped. I received a good amount of money from her. "Thank you for the battle," I thanked her.

Moving on.

I got no more than three steps away when a lass approached me, "Should I… Or shouldn't I? OK, sure, I will battle!" She proclaimed. Three steps.

Lass Haley sent out Lotad. I sent out Torchic. "Scratch!" "Astonish!" Both attacks landed.

But Lotad took more damage. "Scratch!"

Lotad fainted. So Haley sent out a Shroomish. A pure grass type. "Hey, there was a scientist who came this way looking for that!"

"Tackle!"

"Ember!"

Both attacks landed, but Torchic struck first, and ember did a lot of damage.

"Scratch!"

It was over. "Maybe I shouldn't have battled…" "That's not a maybe." I collected and left.

Next was two girls who I'm sure were too young to be out here on their own battled me.

Now this was my first double battle, so I went with Zigzagoon and Surskit.

"We're twins, so we battle Pokemon together, too!" They shouted simultaneously.

"Uh huh," and it began.

Twins Gina and Mia sent out Lotad and Seedot. "Go, Surskit and Zigzagoon!"

"Zigzagoon, tackle Seedot! Surskit use Fell stinger on Lotad!"

Seedot used Bide, then Surskit made his move, inflicting a ton of damage on Lotad.

Then Lotad used absorb on Zigzagoon, stealing a little health. Zigzagoon landed tackle on Seedot.

Long story short, I kinda stole the kid's lunch money. Well, they gave it up, but now I feel bad.

After that and having Poochyena take out Fisherman Ivan, I arrived in Rustboro City.


	7. Skitty

Once I entered Rustboro, May exited the Poke Mart and decided to strike up a conversation.

"So you made it here to Rustboro, too, Brendan!"

"Yep, just slaughtering innocent trainers."

"It's really big here, isn't it? Littleroot can't even compare."

Then she whipped around, "Don't even make a joke about how I said it's so big."

"Why would I do that?"

"Because you're Brendan."

"Well I'm sorry for that."

"No you're not."

"You know me so well."

"By the way, there's a gym here." She said.

"I know. Dear old Daddy told me."

"Once I catch a couple more pokemon, I'll be sure to take it one with my team!" She exclaimed. "Well, I gotta go, See you later!" And like that, she was gone.

After exploring town a bit, I encountered a fellow just west of the Pokemon center.

"That determined expression… That limber way you move…"

"It's thirty bucks an hour."

"And your well-trained Pokemon…"

"Fifty if you want it weird."

"You're obviously a skilled trainer!" He said.

"Thanks!"

"No wait, don't say a word. I can tell just by looking at you."

"Okay, Sherlock."

"I'm sure that you will be capable of putting this HM to good use. No need to be shy. Go on, take it!"

He handed me a gray colored disc.

"That's HM number 1, Cut! Any Pokemon that knows cut can chop down prickly trees if the trainer has earned the Stone Badge."

"Seems Legit."

So I left after that. More exploring found me at the front desk of the Trainer's school.

I didn't even know that was a thing. I talked to the teacher at the desk.

"Students who don't study get a little taste of my quick claw, you see."

"Sir, pretty sure that's illegal."

He gave me the quick claw. Apparently it's magic power lets the Pokemon holding it go faster and more likely to take the first move in battle.

That night I spent at the Pokemon Center.

The next morning, I went out to train at route 116.

This route was pretty big compared to the others. It was a long route used by workers that were helping to clear Rustturf tunnel. There were quite a few trainers as well as new pokemon. The first I encountered was a Whismur. "Go, Poochyena! Ice Fang!"

The attack landed. Whismur countered with a pound. Poochyena winced, but shook it off.

"Bite!"

Poochyena did just that and the Whismur fainted.

Next, I met another Bug Catcher.

"My Bug Pokemon are tough! Let's battle!"

Bug catcher Jose (oh, he's Mexican) sent out Wurmple. I sent out Taillow.

"Supersonic!"

Some sort of waves were sent at Wurmple, and it staggered and swayed on it's feet.

It managed to land a string shot attack though.

"Growl!" I commanded. Taillow growled.

Wurmple responded by promptly slapping itself in the face.

"Growl." I said. Wurmple slapped itself again. Jose wasn't happy. "You're making me and my Super tough Bug Pokemon mad!" "Oh don't blow an Alamo, you'll be fine!"

Wurmple slapped itself.

"Growl."

Taillow did, but then Jose managed to land a poison sting.

"Impressive."

I had Taillow use supersonic in case Wurmple snapped itself out, but it didn't.

It did, however, make a successful Tackle.

"Growl."

Wurmple landed another Poison Sting. I switched out to Zigzagoon.

Wurmple managed to hit another Poison Sting, this time, poisoning Zigzagoon. So I gave it a Pecha Berry. Wurmple snapped itself out and tackled Zigzagoon. I switched out to Torchic. Wurmple followed with String shot.

"Ember!"

One hit KO.

Jose sent out Nincada. "Ember." One hit KO. Jose sent out Silcoon.

"Dude, that thing can't even move. Ember."

The battle came to a close.

After that battle, I taught Taillow Echoed Voice.

Then I heard my DexNav beep. So I followed the signal until I heard soft meowing. I came across what was widely regarded to be the cutest Pokemon ever. Skitty. It was level eighteen! It was a female, and the DexNav says it knows sucker punch!

"Go, Seedot!" Seedot doesn't actually know any attacks but needs to level up. So I had him use Harden over and over again. Skitty demonstrated it's double slap. The slaps were taking a toll, so I switched to my Poochyena. Skitty then used the worst of moves.

The one most dreaded.

The one that caused nightmares.

Attract. Poochyena had hearts in his eyes. So I switched him out for the one female Pokemon I had with me: Zigzagoon.

Skitty demonstrated it's Disarming Voice attack. This cat was full of surprises. "Tackle!" Zigzagoon didn't get the chance as Skitty finally unveiled it's Sucker punch.

"Torchic!" I swear if I lose to this thing…

"Ember!" Skitty was faster, and went first with a double slap. Torchic still landed his attack, though.

This Skitty was smart though, as it then used attract. Then Sucker Punch.

Torchic fainted. "Uhhhh…Surskit, Fell Stinger!"

Skitty was faster with Attract. Then Surskit surprised me by successfully landing it's attack. Skitty retaliated with Sucker Punch, and Surskit promptly fainted. "Shit…" I sent out Taillow, who had been lulled to sleep by a previous Skitty who had hit him with Sing. So I used my only Revive on Torchic. Skitty used attract, which, despite Taillow having been asleep, still worked somehow. Then Disarming voice. Things are not going well. I'm about ready to start throwing Poke Balls.

"Supersonic!" Taillow stayed asleep. "Damn."

Double slap from Skitty and Taillow was out. I suddenly have a new found respect for Skitties. "Go, Seedot!" I healed Torchic further with a Potion, then Skitty slapped Seedot into submission. What. The. Hell.

So if Poochyena can't lower her health at all, I'm screwed. One Sucker Punch and down he went. The Fuck?!

"Torchic! Tag in!"

I figured, Fuck it, and threw a ball. Wobble. Please. Wobble. PLEASE. Wobble. PLEASE YOU SON OF A Click!

…

"WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

I rushed to the Pokemon center to switch that Skitty out with Zigzagoon.

That day, despite my near loss to a little pink cat, I was happy for two reasons. One, I had added said cat to my team. Two, the Pokedex said that Torchic's and Seedot's energy levels were almost ready for evolution. So I headed for the Gym with Poochyena first in my party.

The Girl who I'm guessing was the leader was just inside greeted me as soon as I stepped inside.

"Hello."

"Hi. Are you Roxanne?"

"Yes, and you must be the new challenger. I'm the Rustboro City Pokemon Gym Leader. I became a Gym leader so that I may apply in battle all that I've learned at the Pokemon Trainer's school."

"Yeah, didn't even know that was a thing until I saw it."

"If you defeat me I'll present you a badge as proof of your strength as a trainer. Please take up the challenge."

"Pretty sure I challenged you by walking in here."

"Until then, Farewell."

And she walked away.

So I talked to the man by the entrance.

"Yo, how's it going?!" He shouted. "Inside voices please." I chuckled.

"Listen my friend! Would you like to become the champion?"

"Do I get a Ferrari?"

"I'm no trainer, not me, but I can sure give you some winning advice."

"No thank you."

"That's settled, then! We'll aim for the Pokemon Championship together!"

"Hold on, you just said you're not a trainer."

"Roxanne, the gym leader here, is a user of Rock-type Pokemon. They're very durable, but they can't stand Water or Grass-type moves! Go for it!" And on that note, he stepped aside. "Uh…" I just shook my head and continued. The first Trainer I came across was a Youngster named Josh.

"Don't take us Gym Trainers lightly! I'll show you why we're better!" This guys a riot!

"As compared to who?" I laughed. He sent out his Geodude. "Go, Poochyena! Ice Fang!"

Poochyena was much stronger, therefore, faster, so his attack landed first. But Geodude didn't keel over. "What?"

"Hah! I unveil Geodude's ability! Sturdy prevents Geodude from fainting from an attack that would have KOed him!"

"Whatever kid, just means you're already at your limit."

He answered me with Defense Curl.

"Bite." Geodude fainted.

"Go, Geodude!"

This one was slightly leveled up. "Ice Fang!" Geodude withstood it much better this time and tackled Poochyena in response. "Another Ice fang!" Geodude collapsed.

The next kid claimed, "If you can't beat me, you don't stand a chance against Roxanne!" His name was Tommy, and he sent out a Geodude. "Hey kid, there's a reason some cartoons get pulled. No Originality. Poochyena, Ice Fang!"

Poochyena struck first. "Defense Curl!" Tommy yelled.

Geodude curled into a ball. "Ice Fang."

Poochyena made his second move. Geodude didn't faint. But he did get frozen solid.

"Aha!" Then immediately thawed out. "Ahaaaaa…"

It tackled Poochyena. "Ice Fang!"

Geodude collapsed.

Taillow leveled up with the Exp. Share and replaced it's Growl with Wing Attack.

Finally, I had one more person standing between Roxanne and I. I moved forward.

"I'll make you feel the power if the number two trainer at this school!" School kid Georgia said.

"Doesn't seem like much of a mile stone to be honest."

She sent out a Geodude. Poochyena came to the battle.

"Ice fang!" "Tackle!"

The attacks both landed. Come on, one more…

"Ice Fang!"

Her Geodude fell.

"How disappointing…" She muttered, kicking the dirt. "I fell to number three…"

"I don't go to your school."

Finally I got up onto Roxanne's platform. "Just as I suspected. I knew you and your Pokemon would be able to get this far."

"And I never learned any of this in School."

"Now, would you kindly demonstrate how you battle with your Pokemon?"

"Yes ma'am."

Cue music.

This was exciting. You know, I might just see a new Pokemon I've never seen before!

Leader Roxanne sent out Geodude.

"I'm gonna burn this place to the ground. Ice Fang!"

Poochyena was much faster. His attack landed. "Rock Tomb!"

"Huh?"

Rocks came from nowhere and landed all around Poochyena. When the dust cleared, Poochyena was scratched up, but Okay. "Ice Fang!" Geodude collapsed. So I switched as fast as I could to my new ace.

"Go, Nosepass!"

"Go, Skitty!"

Roxanne scoffed. "You're kidding right?"

"Skitty, Sucker Punch." Skitty did just that. It didn't do much. "Nosepass, Rock Tomb!" Skitty dodged most of the stones but one or two grazed her shoulder.

"Disarming Voice!" This attack did even less. "Damn."

Nosepass tackled Skitty, but it didn't do much. "Alright, Double slap!"

Nosepass was faster then I thought, as it dodged and hit Skitty with Rock Tomb. Now I was in trouble. Both were Girls, so Attract won't work.

"Double Slap!"

Nosepass was still kicking.

Skitty was getting low after Nosepass landed it's next Rock Tomb. I decided to use a potion. Nosepass, for whatever reason, used Tackle. "Sucker Punch!" Nosepass had to be getting low.

Nosepass used tackle. "Again!"

Nosepass was faltering.

I used another potion and so did Roxanne.

"Phew. Sucker Punch!" Skitty missed.

"Harden!"

"Disarming voice!"

"Harden."

Nosepass became aggressive again with another tackle. More Disarming Voice and Tackles.

Both Pokemon are lower now.

"Come on…"

Skitty scored a Critical hit that time! "Tackle!"

Skitty is wobbling. Damn. Okay, both of us are gonna use potions again, I know it. So I did.

Nosepass didn't. It scored a critical hit tackle.

"Disarming voice!"

So freaking close.

Nosepass tackled again.

"Skitty, Disarming voice!"

Nosepass took the hit, and keeled over.

"So, I lost…" Roxanne sighed. "It seems I have much to learn." After receiving a good amount of money, I noticed something. Seedot's Pokeball was shaking!


	8. Peeko and Briney

I brought Seedot out just in time to see it glow with white light. It grew arms, it's legs became longer, and it just changed.

Once the light cleared, I had a Nuzleaf that knew razor leaf.

"Congratulations on that, and your win!" Roxanne smiled. "Now then, the rules state that if you defeat me, you get this. Please accept the official Pokemon League Stone Badge."

She handed me a badge that had two arrows on either end.

I put it away in my case and put it in my bag. "Now you may use Cut outside of battle." Roxanne continued, "And please, take this with you, too." She handed me a tan colored disc that said TM 39: Rock Tomb on it. "The move Rock Tomb not only inflicts damage by dropping rocks, it also lowers the target's speed. You can use a TM as many times as you want, so please, try it out!"

"Thank you, Roxanne."

I happily exited the building.

Then immediately had my day ruined by seeing another one of those Pirate cosplayers taking off down the road towards route 116, "Out of the way! Move it!"

The Devon Researcher tried to follow him, but was much to slow, "Wait. Pleeeaaase! Don't take those parts!" And he waddled down the road.

My conscience told me to help. My Common sense said don't do it.

My Conscience won.

A quick run to the Pokemon Center and I took off down the road. I found the Devon researcher at the end of Rustboro City's road.

"Oh, you there! You're that fantastic Trainer who helped me in Petalburg Woods!"

"I swear everyone's out to flirt with me."

"Help me! I've been robbed by Team Aqua! I have to get the Devon Parts back! If I don't, I'm going to be in serious trouble."

"You'll be fired?"

"No, our boss spanks us."

"Yeah, just going to ignore that," I said. I once again traveled down route 116. After having taught Torchic and Nuzleaf Rock Tomb, that is.

I arrived at the entrance to the Rustturf tunnel. Standing by the entrance was an old man who looked vaguely familiar. "Ohhh, what am I to do?" He mumbled.

"Sir, what happened?"

"We were just out on our walk, Peeko and I, when we were attacked by an odd thug. And the scoundrel made off with my darling Peeko! Where are you? PEEEEEEKO!"

"Sir, don't worry, I'll get your wife back!" I called over my shoulder as I entered the cave.

Rustturf Tunnel was a small cave linking Rustboro to Verdanturf town. The construction workers who had previously been trying to clear the rubble between the two ends of the cave had strung up dim electric lights around the ceiling. Construction work had since been ceased. A light fog wafted around the rocks.

Finally I caught sight of a Team Aqua grunt. "Aye, are you coming? Come and get some, then!" And next to him was a scared looking Wingull. "Alright, you're asking for it!" I replied.

"Grah, keelhaul it all! This hostage Pokemon turned out to be useless! And to think I made a getaway into this tunnel to nowhere! And you!"

"What about me, Punk?"

"Now you're here to battle me. Really? Go, Poochyena!"

"Go, Torchic! Ember!"

Poochyena took a direct hit and got burned. "Heh, now I don't have to anything! Just wait and the battle's mine!"

"Don't be sure! Tackle!"

"Oh I'm sure!" I said as Torchic dodged to the side. "You know what, screw it, Rock Tomb!"

Torchic pulled rocks from the cave floor and hurled them at Poochyena. The dog fainted.

And Torchic started to glow. When the light cleared, I saw a Combusken standing before me.

"Hah! Take that you team rocket wannabe!" But the grunt had used the distraction to flee. The Wingull was still there, however, as well as a small white box. A minute later, the old man turned up. "Peeko! Am I glad to see you're safe!" He addressed the Wingull.

"Wait, Peeko's your Wingull?"

"Aye."

"Um… never mind."

"My Peeko owes you her life an' freedom to you, lad! They call me Mr. Briney, and you are?"

"Brendan, sir."

"Ah, so it's Brendan, is it now! Then I sincerely thank you, Brendan! If there's ever a thing I can do to help you in turn, don't you hesitate to tell me. I'll be at my cottage by the see near Petalburg woods. Come Peeko! High time we're under way to home!"

He spoke in his Scottish sailor accent.

Once out of the tunnel, I called Dad.

"Hey Dad, where's the second Gym?"

"Dewford town. There's also this one place tha-" I hung up. Checking my map, Dewford was on an island south of here.

And Mr. Briney just said he'd do me a favor… And he has a boat…

Once I was back in Rustboro, I promptly went to the Devon Corporation Building. Just outside, I met with the Researcher.

"Oh, how did it go? Did you get the parts back?"

"Yes sir, I did."

"You really are a great trainer! I know! As my thanks, I'll give you a Great Ball!"

"Huh?"

He gave me a poke ball, except the top was blue with two red stripes running along the sides.

"Did you just make a pun by calling me a Great trainer and then giving me a Great Ball?"

"Yes I did. Now please, come with me."

He took me up to the third floor of the company building.

"This is the top floor of the Devon Corporation. Our President's office is on this floor. Could you wait here for just a moment?"

He left me at the staircase, and approached a man in a business suit behind the desk. The man seemed to be in his sixties, with gray hair and age shown on his face. The researcher came back a minute later.

"Our President would like to have a word with you. Please come with me."

"I'm Mr. Stone, the president of the Devon Corporation." He reached out a hand, and I firmly shook it. "I heard just now that we have quite a bit to thank you for. So you helped out my staff not just once, but twice!"

"At an expense."

"There's a favor I'd like to ask of a reliable trainer like you."

"As long as it's a equal trade."

"Now, I want you to know I'm a president you can trust. I'd never be so mean as to ask a favor for nothing in return."

The president of Johto said the exact same thing and screwed us all over.

"Here, give me your PokeNav Plus for a moment."

He tinkered with it a little.

"The function that I just added to your PokeNav Plus is called BuzzNav. It is an indispensable tool for any trainer who is travelling out in the world. Use it and you'll be able to get the latest news from around the region and from your own friends, anytime, anyplace."

"Thank you." Probably not going to use the news thing at all.

"Now let me get to the important issue of what it is I need you to do…"

"I'm listening."

"I want to ask you to deliver this letter to a man named Steven," He handed me an envelope, "You should find him in Dewford."

"Convenient. That's my next stop anyways."

"You'll have to cross the sea to reach Dewford, of course. I'll ask Mr. Briney, the old sailor who lives in that hut on Route 104 to help with the crossing. I'm counting on you, young man!"

"Yes sir!" I shook the researcher's hand and headed south.

When I exited the building, I saw May waiting for me.

"Sup dipshit."

"I missed you too."

"Have you been catching lots of Pokemon?"

"Yes. Plenty."

"Same here. I'm actually out of balls."

Ummm…

"Oh, yeah… And I passed Mr. Briney when I was in Petalburg woods. He was on his way home. He was once a highly respected seafarer."

"I heard. Listen, chatting with you is entertaining, but I need to get to Dewford."

I knocked on Mr. Briney's front door. "Come in!"

"Hello, Mr. Briney. It's Brendan."

"Hold on lass! Belay that, Peeko!" he turned to me after Peeko calmed down from flying around the room. "Ah, Brendan, I do believe I owe you a favor."

"Yes, I need a ride to Dewford town."

"You want to sail with me? What's this all about, then?"

I told him what Mr. Stone had told me.

"Ah, yes, Mr. Rock Stone. We used to be sailor buddies, still are on the holidays. Certainly, that'd be no problem at all. Shall we hoist sail for Dewford at once?"

"Yes sir!" I said, after registering the fact that Mr. Stone's first name was

Rock.

"Dewford, we're a-coming!" Mr. Briney and I walked out to the dock. "Anchors aweigh! Peeko, we're setting sail, my darling!"

"Ahoy! We've struck land in Dewford, lad!" Mr. Briney exclaimed as he tied up the boat, "I suppose you'll be heading a-shore to deliver that letter to what's-his-name or whomever. If you need help, just call Brawly, the gym leader. He knows everything that goes on in this town."

"Alright. Thank you, Mr. Briney!" I ran down the dock and my sneakers hit the san


	9. Steven

First things first. I headed straight for the gym. There was a small lobby with a couch, a vending machine, and the front desk, which that guy from the Rustboro gym stood behind.

How he got here ahead of me I have no idea.

I ignored him and walked straight ahead to find a hallway leading straight back. I could see how I think was Brawly all the way at the other end, but other trainers stood in the way.

Time to lay down the law. The first girl came up to me, "Don't you dare brush me off!"

"Wasn't trying too."

"It's not my fault if you cry!"

"…Okay."

Battle girl Laura sent out Meditite!

"Go Combusken!"

Hmmm…

"Peck!" "Meditate!"

Combusken's beak glowed as he lunged forward and nabbed Meditite in the belly. Meditite crossed it's legs and floated in the air for a few seconds. Then stopped.

"Peck!" Meditite fainted after the second blow.

Laura was silent for a moment, then, "Waaaaaaah! I lost!" She sobbed and ran out of the building.

I stepped on a glowing panel on the floor and a bunch of rooms next to the hallway suddenly lit up. On the floor in front of me was a conveyor belt moving towards me. So if I try to cross it, I get pushed back. So I have to go through this PE locker room looking thing to get around it.

I stepped off the pad, so the rooms went dark again. I felt around and made my way to the next section of the hallway to find a guy in a karate outfit waiting for me.

"Might is right!" he exclaimed. "Come on!"

And so it began. Black belt Hideki sent out Machop. "Go, Combusken!"

"Peck!" Combusken pecked.

"Foresight!"

Machop squinted at Combusken.

"Okay, what does that move even do?"

"It increases Machop's chances of landing a critical hit!"

"Lame! Peck!"

Combusken Pecked.

"Focus Energy!"

"That's the exact same thing! Peck!" Machop fell over.

"Not enough power…" Hideki mumbled under his breath as I passed him.

I stepped on another pad and crossed through another side room. I stepped on another panel to see more side rooms.

There was one more girl in my way. "There's no need for Brawly t be involved!" She said. "I'll crush you!" I laughed.

"U wut m8?"

Battle girl Tessa sent out another Meditite. "Go, Combusken! Peck!"

Got it right in the chest.

"Meditate!" Meditite meditated. Its health was low.

"Scratch it off."

Combusken scratched Meditite's arm, and it was over.

"Go, Machop!"

"Seriously? That's the fourth Machop I've seen in the last two days."

"Well, suck it up kid."

"That's what she said!"

"Did you just-"

"Peck!" Machop staggered from the hit and used foresight.

"Peck it again." Combusken did and Machop fell over.

"I believe I win."

"But… How? How could I lose so easily?"

Moving on, I detoured around another dark room until I stepped on another pad revealing the final room. It was like a fitness trainer's wet dream; treadmills lined the walls. Dumbbells everywhere. And Brawly, a twenty-something looking guy with wind swept blue hair was doing… something with his arms. But I talked to him anyway.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm Brawly!" He shouted. "Dewford's Gym leader!"

"Yes sir, I know that already."

"I've been churned in the rough waves of these parts…"

"Okay."

"And I've grown tough using the cave at the outskirts of this town as my training ground,"

"Uh-huh."

"As well as using the equipment in this gym."

"Neat."

"So you want to challenge me?"

"Not really, but you have badges so I kinda have to."

"Let me see what you're made of!"

"Fine."

Leader Brawly sent out Machop. "Go, Combusken!"

"Peck!" Combusken jabbed his beak into Machop's side. "Leer!"

Machop squinted at Combusken, lowering his defense.

"Peck again!" Machop fell into a heap on the floor.

"Go, Makuhita!"

"You know, Brawly, I've been using Combusken for the entire gym, and he hasn't taken any damage at all. You need to have a serious talk with your trainers. Peck!"

Combusken pecked Makuhita in the belly. It staggered, and almost fell.

"Use knock off!" Makuhita slapped Combusken, sending the Oran berry he had flying.

"Finally you fight back! Peck again!"

Makuhita fainted.

"Whoa, wow! You made a much bigger splash than I expected!"

"Wasn't that hard."

"Okay, you've got me. Take this Badge."

He handed me a small metal badged shaped like a boxing glove.

"The Knuckle Badge lets you use the move Flash outside of battle! Hmm… You know what, I think you can make full use of this, too." He handed me a reddish brown colored disc with the words TM 8: Bulk Up printed on it.

"Bulk Up temporarily enhances the Pokemon's muscle power. It boosts both Attack and Defense stats. I can see your talent becoming a giant wave-"

"Yeah that's all dandy, where can I find a guy named Steven?"

Brawly sighed in exasperation. "Granite Cave, Northwest of town."

"Thank you."

Asking around about Granite Cave, I met a fisherman in town.

"This is a renowned fishing spot. Are you getting the itch to fish?"

"My dad used to take me on fishing trips."

"I'm gonna take that as a yes! I'll give you my old pole."

He handed me a beat up old fishing rod.

So yeah, I got a fishing rod from an old creepy fisherman. Noteworthy.

By massacring all fishermen that called themselves trainers along what little of route 105 was solid ground, I arrived at Granite Cave.

And the first Pokemon I encountered in the cave was a familiar face.

"Hey, an Abra! GO, Taillow!"

Knowing it would teleport away as soon as I attacked, I threw my great ball.

Wobble, Wobble, Wobble, Click.

I found myself at a staircase carved into the rock, leading deeper into the cave. Next to it stood a hiker.

"Hey, you. It gets awfully dark up ahead. It'll be tough trying to explore. Well, for us hikers, helping out those that we meet is our motto."

"The Johto Hikers' motto was different."

"Here you go, I'll pass this on to you." He handed me a gray disc that had TM 70: Flash.

"The Johto Hiker's motto involved flashing."

I strolled down the stairs to find another cavern. It was large, spacious, and filled with many cave drawings.

Intricate carvings on the back wall seemed to depict a natural disaster of some sort. Two large monstrous things seemed to be roaring and fighting one another.

A man with light gray hair in a tux was standing in front of the picture.

He said to himself, "Mm-hmm… So in the ancient world, their primal forms once held this much power…? The Super-ancient Pokemon… What terrible strength… Almost god-like power. But their appearance here… It seems somehow different from Mega Evolution…"

"Excuse me, are you Steven?"

"Hm? You are…?"

"Brendan. Nice to meet you."

"Ah, I see. It's a pleasure, Brendan. My apologies. My name is Steven."

He extended a hand and I shook it.

"I'm interested in rare stones, so I travel here and there. Today my Journey brought me here, but what about you?"

"Actually, I was looking for you. Mr. Stone of the Devon Corporation told me to give you this letter."

"Oh? A letter for me?"

I handed it to him. "Why thank you… It must have been some trouble to track me down. I suppose I must repay you in some way. I'll give you this TM. It contains my favorite move, Steel Wing."

He handed me a silver disc with the words TM 51: Steel Wing printed on it.

"If you don't mind me asking…" Steven began.

"Hm?"

"Do you feel anything in particular when you look up at this wall? A Primal World, lost thousands of years in the past… Legendary Pokemon, both of which had tremendous, god-like power became humanity's greatest threat… The terror aroused by that power is clear to see in this ancient artwork."

"I feel it."

"…Yes. But not all power is terrible."

"Not sure what you're trying to say here." I crossed my arms.

"Your Pokemon are clearly quite capable as well. Looking at you all together… I think that you have what it takes to become a Pokemon League Champion. As long as you keep training, that is."

"Mm-hmm."

"Good luck to you. I must be going now." He turned and walked out of the cave. I took one more, long look at the cave painting. Then turned and exited the cave as well.


	10. Lisia and Electrike

Five minutes later found me at the Dewford Harbor.

"Mr. Briney."

"Oho! It looks as though you have delivered your chit good and proper."

"You did just say 'Chit' and not 'shit', right?"

"Yes."

"Just checking."

"Ah, but that reminds me! Mr. Stone called. He has another favor he'd like to ask. It's about them Devon parts that you recovered for him before."

So that's why they didn't ask for me to return them. A little silly to just make the assumption I'll help them a second time. They're lucky I'm generous.

"Seems as though they should go to some fellow called Stern at Slateport's Shipyard. This old seadog will see you there safely! Weigh anchors! We're for Slateport!"

And so we set sail for route 119.

"Ahoy, We've made land in Slateport!"

Once the boat was tied down, we hopped off onto the dock. "I suppose you're off to visit Captain Stern and deliver those Devon Parts?"

"Yes sir. Thanks."

I parted on good terms with the old sailor and looked upon another beach. Slateport was just in front of me.

Slateport City is known for being the focus of much supply and demand. There was a Market, a contest hall, and the harbor.

There was also the museum, but something must have been going down, because there was a long line of Team Aqua grunts standing out front and around the corner.

Ironically, they seemed to be paying the toll to get in.

I decided that investigating that matter could wait, as I'd like to get these Devon parts off my hands.

I made a pit stop at the Pokemon Center. Next I found a shop that was selling TMs in the market where I picked up TM 73: Thunder Wave and TM 76: Struggle Bug.

I found the shipyard where a ship seemed to be under construction. I found a guy behind a desk staring at multiple blueprints.

"Umm… If this goes here, and that goes over there…" He mumbled. "Then where does this thing go? And what about this doohickey? Argh! I can't make heads or tails of this!"

"Excuse me, I heard something about tail."

"Hm? You… Oh, sorry. I'm Dock."

"Your name is literally Dock? As in a boat dock?"

"I don't see what you mean."

"I mean I'm looking for Captain Stern."

"Captain Stern commissioned me to draw up designs for a ferry." He replied.

"Neat."

"Oh! Those parts you have… Those are the Devon parts!"

"Yes sir, they are."

"But…"

"But?"

"Hmm…" He looked around nervously. "This won't do… I guess Captain Stern is probably off at the Oceanic Museum again…"

"If you're gonna-"

"Sorry, but could I ask you to find the captain and give the parts to him?" Dock pleaded.

"Fine."

I approached the Oceanic Museum to find the line had disappeared. Once the toll was paid, I was greeted with the sight of a bunch of Pirates!

Who were quietly and respectfully looking about the museum?

Strange. Anyway, one guy near the front desk saw me and jumped. "Please don't hurt me!" He whisper/screamed. "Just take this and leave me alone!"

He threw a black disc with the words TM 46: Thief printed on it in white. I looked up. "What did you see?" I asked the grunt, but he was gone. Huh. I didn't do anything to him. His teammate might be in a ditch, somewhere, but come on.

I snuck up to the second floor, which had even more glass cases with famous ships in each one, and a diorama map of Hoenn in the middle. I found a man in a tuxedo and a fancy hat looking at the "S.S. Anne."

"Excuse me?" I asked for the fifth time that day.

"Yes?"

"Are you Captain Stern?"

"If you're looking for Stern, that would be me."

"I have a package for you from the Devon Corporation."

"Ah! Those must be the parts I ordered. Thank you for bringing the case all this way. Now we can prepare for our expedition at last!"

"Yeah, great, now we may want to leave now-"

"Hah hah hah hah…" A Team Aqua Grunt laughed behind us. "Because them."

"Just a moment! We'll be taking those parts!"

"Oh look, punching bags."

"Who are you people?!" Mr. Stern cried.

"We're Team Aqua and-"

"They, Mr. Stern, are the extras of Pirates of the Caribbean."

"…"

"…"

"Our boss has need of those parts in that case, so relinquish it o us at once!"

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"Go, Nuzleaf!"

"Go, Carvanha!"

"Razor Leaf!" Nuzleaf threw sharp leaves at Carvanha and Carvanha fainted after that one attack. One leaf even flew right into the Grunt's chest and he collapsed.

"Oh, that's convenient."

"How?!" The other grunt exclaimed in horror. "I'll make short work of you, infant! Go, Zubat!"

"Wow. Just like Team Rocket. Rock Tomb!" Rocks hurled themselves at Zubat, hitting it in the wings and face. It fainted.

"Uh… Carvanha!" The red and blue fish appeared.

"Razor Leaf." Leaves hit their mark and down the fish went. "Could it be?!" The grunt panicked.

He took a few steps back. "How…?"

"Simple. I'm better at this than you."

"What do we have here?" A deep voice called. I turned to see a man in what appeared to be a blue jumpsuit, a cape made of layers of fishnet, and a gold colored miniature trident hanging from his next on a chain. He had dark, olive colored skin and a full beard. He wore the same banana as the grunts on the top of his head. "I came to see what was taking so long just to steal a few parts, and I find you simps getting beat by this kid?"

He took a long look at me, "Heh, that's a fierce expression for a wee little scamp."

"And that's a pretty stoned expression for a Blackbeard wannabe."

"That face tells me you're not just another mindless Trainer brat. The name is Archie. The rough-looking lot you see here are members of my team―Team Aqua."

"So I've heard. So let me ask you, what do you want with the parts? What's your whole scheme here? Because if it turns out like that whole Team rocket deal, you're going to all end up dead or in jail. Possibly both."

"So tell me, boyo…" Archie began.

"Do you know that Pokemon, people, and all life in this world depend on the sea for life? That's right. The sea is an irreplaceable treasure for every living thing on this planet. But with our selfish extravagance, humanity dirties the great ocean, destroying this source of all life… Day by day, we're all destroying our most precious resource! If we humans suffer from our actions, well, maybe we'll end up getting what we deserve. But what about the Pokémon in our world? The Pokémon that no longer have a place to live because we stole and soiled their seas? The Pokémon that won't have a place to raise their young and watch them grow? We are creating a world in which innocent Pokémon suffer as a result of our actions… And that is something that I can't forgive! That's why I came to a decision, see? The foolish actions of my fellow humans, the seas we have blighted, nature itself… I will return everything to its unspoiled beginnings!"

Archie took a moment to breathe, "… Heh! It's not like me to talk so much. Never mind, little scamp… I'll withdraw for now and leave you be. But understand this… Get in my way again, and you won't walk away unscathed next time. Remember that, at least!"

Archie grinned. "We're moving out, lads!"

He gathered up his remaining forces and left.

"You're gonna fuck this up one way or another!" I called after him.

"Young man. Ah, Brendan, is it?" Mr. Stern greeted me. "That was quite a tense situation! Thank you for helping me out!" He extended his hand and I shook it.

"You're welcome, sir."

"Oh, yes, I almost forgot that you brought the parts from Devon!"

"Yeah, here they are." I handed him the white box.

"This is it! I can't be standing around here! It's finally time for us to set out on our ocean floor expedition! Thanks for this, and excuse me!" Stern power walked out.

Well, I figured I could get some training done while I was here. So Poochyena and I went for a walk.

I noticed a crowd gathering at the north side of the city, so I went to check it out. I overheard two guys talking.

Spy time.

"Hey! That's Lisia and Ali doing a shoot over there!"

"Are you serious?! Lisia! Let's go!"

And they scampered off in the direction of the contest hall. I followed and saw a group of people, some with cameras around a young girl, looked to be in her late teens. She had light green hair and was wearing a blue dress. An Altaria roosted by her side.

"Hiiiiii, ev-er-y-bo-dy! Lisia here!" She addressed the cameras. "Me and my Altaria, Ali, have come to Slateport City's Contest Spectacular Hall for a bit of FUN!"

"Ali-li-li!" Ali chirped.

"Well then watch me as I dive right in again today!" She cheered. "Dazzling, dizzying, doldrums defying!" Okay, I was almost into this girl until she said that. What made it worse was that a few guys in the crowd repeated it and spun in a circle.

What some guys will do to get laid.

Lisia did some sort of weird dance, then cheered, "Lisia's miraculous contest scouting!"

"Start!" One schmuck in the crowd said.

"Lissi! Scout me to be your next boyfriend!" Another hollered.

"Lissia, Ali!" A girl screamed.

"All righty!" Lisia started. "I'm going to bring another fantastic trainer into the wild world of contesting! Eenie…meenie…miney…"

She looked around. Then her eyes fell on me.

"You there, watching me with that baffled expression on your face! Hi!"

"…Hi."

Poochyena barked his hello.

"Have you never joined in a contest?" She asked.

"No."

"That's just what I wanted to hear!" She grabbed my hand and led me up front of everyone, next to Ali, with Poochyena hot on my heels.

"And his name is…"

"Brendan."

"Brendan! When I took a good look, I could easily see that Brendan is a powerful trainer, with several badges of his own already!"

I took this opportunity to smirk to the camera, in case Dad was watching.

"Brendan! You can enjoy Contest Spectaculars at the Pokemon Contest hall right here!"

She gestured at the building behind us, "Now listen up, because I don't just want to see you making your Pokemon strong. I want to see you bringing out a whole new brilliant side of them to show off! So here you go! Take these! This is a Contest Pass, which is the first thing that anyone needs to take part in a Contest Spectacular!" She handed me a card.

"And this one is a Pokeblock kit, which will let you make Pokeblocks for your pokemon out of berries!" She handed me a handheld device.

"Thanks." I politely smiled.

Lisia turned to the camera. "Brendan's story begins today!"

"Actually, my journey began yester-" "

Yep! And this chapter should be titled…" She did her weird dance, "A sudden encounter! Miraculous Contest Scouting! That's what I'd call it! Now, everybody out there watching… You'd better expect great things from Brendan, because I do! That's it for today's Lisia's miraculous contest scouting! See you all next time!"

"Al-tariii!" Ali crowed.

There was clapping from the crowd. Lisia entered the contest building, and the crowd dispersed.

"If you can defeat all the trainers here, I'll reward your effort." The guy behind the desk of the Seashore house told me. It was a little surfing shack/restaurant on the beach of Slateport City.

Five minutes later, with Combusken having learned Flame Charge, "You're scorching hot!" The man told me.

"That'll be thirty- Never mind."

"Those battles blazed! I'm more than pleased! As thanks for showing me your hot streak, I want you to take these." He handed me 6 bottles of Soda.

Taking care of the rest of the trainers on the beach really killed some time.

Heading North to route 110, it was a dirt path leading to a long strip of land all the way to Mauville City.

It wasn't long before my DexNav beeped. And the beeping seemed more urgent this time.

The hidden Pokemon was a level twenty-two Electrike, and it knew Discharge and Thunder Fang.

The battle was rather tedious, but I did catch it.

And I'm out of soda pops.

And when I went and got it from the Pokemon Center, I discovered it also had the rare ability Lightning Rod.

I have the best luck.

 **Sorry about this chapter, I know there weren't many jokes, but this is harder than it looks.**

 **Heh. Hard. Heh hehehehehehehahahahahahHAHAHAHAH.**

 **Ahem. Excuse me. Anyway, as I was playing through the game, I was searching for an Electrike with the Lightning rod ability to use against Wattson.**

 **But he really was level 22, and he knew thunder fang, which is fine on it's own, but this on also knew Discharge, which it normally doesn't learn until 29.**

 **I also came across another Electrike that knew Flame Burst, but was much lower leveled. So yeah.**


	11. Mightyena and Minun

After replacing Electrike's Odor Sleuth and Spark with Thief and Thunder Wave, I continued.

Heading up route 110 from Slateport, My DexNav beeped yet again. I checked it, and the screen said it detected a level 23 Minun. So wait, it's special because it's slightly higher leveled than the rest of the pokemon in the area? So was Electrike, sure, but he knew Discharge.

"Go, Electrike! Thief!"

Electrike swiped his paw across Minun's belly to find it wasn't holding anything.

Minun tried to use copycat, but it failed. For some reason.

"… Discharge."

Considering they were both electric types, the attack didn't do much.

"Switch!" I called Electrike back, then switched him out for Poochyena, my other dog.

Minun used Swift. Tiny magical golden stars were flung at Poochyena, doing a great deal of damage.

"Holy… Switch!"

This time, I called out Nuzleaf.

Minun responded with Sing.

Nuzleaf fell asleep and fell on his back in the grass.

"Huh. This thing's more feisty than I thought."

Minun was still running around, full of energy, so I couldn't throw a ball yet. I could try having Taillow confuse him with supersonic, but I don't know if Minun knows any electric attacks. Well, if you don't take risks, you're not living.

"Go, Taillow!"

Minun greeted him with Swift.

"Supersonic!"

Minun was faster, however, and sung Taillow to sleep.

"Damn, I didn't even know Minun could learn sing." Once I catch this thing, remind me to keep him around in case I have sleeping problems.

Minun then used Electro ball.

Taillow fainted. Even though he was already unconscious.

"Combusken! Ember!"

Minun was still faster, as he hit a home run with Electro ball.

Ember landed too, but Minun was still kicking.

"Alright, let's try rock tomb to slow it down!"

Minun used Copycat, so it created a little flame ball and threw it a Combusken. Didn't do much. Kinda like a Catholic.

Combusken pulled rocks from the ground and hurled them at Minun. That one actually hit pretty well and Minun staggered.

"Now!" I threw the ball. Wobble, Wobble, Wobble, Click!

When the battle was over, I noticed Poochyena's ball shaking.

I opened it up and out came the dark dog, now shaking and howling.

And glowing. He was glowing. When the light cleared, my little puppy had become a wolf. He had a gray fur on his face, legs, and belly, while his paws were pitch black. A long mane of thick course fur of the same color ran down his back and tail.

Mightyena howled his new power.

"Good boy!" I told him after he had finished eating his dog treat and I rubbed his back and hugged him. He playfully barked and licked my nose.

That Minun had given me a much rougher time than I had expected, and to think it was only because his level was slightly higher than average for his area.

I continued after having to retreat to the Slateport Pokemon Center for the third time that day. Having evolved, Mightyena had gained a huge burst of energy and didn't need to rest apparently.

I strolled down route 110, Mightyena trotted along behind me, sniffing the ground and the air. Evolving had also given him a new move, Snarl.

Gonna try that out on the next trainer I meet.

Suddenly, Mightyena stopped and let out a low growl.

"What is it?"

He pointed his nose in front of us.

Five Team Aqua Grunts, gathered together in one place in front of us on the road.

"It'll be quite a long journey." One of them lectured the others. "Let's take a rest in Mauville, which is on the way."

"I concur!" One grunt answered.

They set off down the road.

"Ha ha ha! I would go anywhere to show off my delightful Pokemon!" One lady greeted me.

"You know, I'd insult you for bragging so much if I didn't like showing off myself. Mightyena, would you please?"

"Mightyena stepped forward as this Pokemon fan lady sent out a Plusle. It cried out, but then stepped back a little. Intimidate. I'll never get tired of that.

"Snarl!" Mightyena Snarled and a visible black colored sound wave hit Plusle head on.

Plusle answered with Spark, paralyzing Mightyena.

"Mightyena, heads up!" I tossed him a Cheri Berry.

He nabbed it and chewed and his body shook off the little bits of electricity.

Mightyena got hit with another Spark. But his energy was still up.

"Snarl!" The sound wave knocked Plusle over.

Fan Lady Isabelle sent out a Minun of her own.

"Snarl." Mightyena hit Minun with a sound wave. Minun hit him with spark.

"Snarl." Minun staggered, then took out an Oran berry and ate it, restoring some health, then hit Mightyena with spark again.

Mightyena took out his Oran berry and ate it.

"Snarl!"

Then Isabelle commanded Minun to use switcheroo. Nothing happened.

"Ice Fang." Mightyena bit Minun with cold infused fangs and Minun fainted.

"Oh dear this won't do." Isabelle rushed off with her Pokemon.

"Good boy!" I gave Mightyena another Oran Berry.

Coming to a fork in the road, I decided to go west.

Mightyena massacred all the trainers to the west (The EXP. share making Taillow level up and learning Aerial Ace) until we came to a dead end. A River ran through here, and I could see route 103 on the other side. Hell, I could see Oldale town from here. Is that Mom going to the grocery store?

There was one fisherman at the shore line fishing for Arceus-knows-what, and he didn't look to happy.

"Excuse me, sir?"

"Gah! My fishing line's all snarled up!" he shouted. "I'm getting frustrated! That's it! Battle me!"

"Want another reason to be frustrated? Electrike!"

Fisherman Andrew sent out Magikarp.

"You…you're serious?"

"My dad gave me this powerful Pokemon!"

CHOMP! Electrike had already bitten it with Thunder Fang, and it fainted.

"Kid, your dad doesn't love you." I smiled. "But if it's any consolation… that was delicious."

"Go, Magikarp!" he sent out another one.

CHOMP! It fainted.

"Stop that! Gah! Lost it! I'm even more annoyed now!"

He threw my prize money on the ground, which Electrike picked up with his teeth and handed it to me.

Walking on route 110's low road brought me to a lot of tall grass.

Soon my DexNav beeped and I came across a Wingull. Ah, nostalgia. According to the DexNav, this one was special because it had the Agility move. So I decided to check it out.

"Electrike, Thunder Wave!"

Electrike laid out a wave of static and sent it towards Wingull, paralyzing it.

"Now Thief!"

Electrike swiped his paw against Wingull's belly, to find it wasn't holding anything.

Wingull landed a successful Wing Attack.

I threw a Poke ball. Wobble. Wobble. Wobble. Click!

A little kid tapped my arm.

"I found some cool Pokemon in the tall grass around here!"

Youngster Timmy sent out Poochyena.

"Go, Electrike!"

"Discharge!"

Poochyena fainted.

"Go, Aron!"

"Discharge!"

KO.

"Go, Electrike!"

Awkward. Switching time.

"Go, Combusken! Flame Charge!"

Combusken wrapped itself in flames and hit Timmy's Electrike. It promptly fainted.

"Being cool isn't enough to win…" Timmy mumbled as he stormed off in the opposite direction.

Moving on found me a familiar face.

"Hey, Brendan! It's been ages!"

"I saw you multiple times yesterday."

"It's a figure of speech."

"Still wrong."

"I was just searching around for Pokemon, you know? My dad, is always going on about how nature used to be even more diverse, way back in the day. He says there used to be way more pokemon in Hoenn than today."

"What happened, they all moved to other regions?"

"I'd imagine. That's why I do fieldwork. We want to find out what happened to all those Pokemon in the past. I've met quite a few Pokemon on my journey up until now, and I think I've gotten to understand a lot of them too. My Pokemon and I have really grown. So… how about a little battle?"

"Why not."

"Alright! GO, Shroomish!"

"Electrike!"

"Thunder wave!" Electrike sent a wave of static electricity at Shroomish, paralyzing it.

"Mega Drain!"

Shroomish grabbed hold of Electrike and absorbed some energy from him.

"You want more power? You can have it! Discharge!" Electrike released wave after wave of electric power, zapping Shroomish right off of him. Electricity didn't do much to Shroomish, but it threw it off.

"Again!" Electrike threw out another wave.

"Headbutt!"

Shroomish rammed its face into Electrike.

"Thief!"

Electrike was lower on health than Shroomish, I was beginning to wonder if he wouldn't make it, but then when May commanded Shroomish for another Headbutt, it couldn't move.

"Let's try Thief one more time!"

The damage was enough. Shroomish collapsed.

May returned it to its Pokeball, whispered something to it, and brought out another Pokeball.

I sent out Nuzleaf as May simultaneously sent out Marshtomp.

She paused, "SHIT!" "Razor Leaf!"

The leaves hit Marshtomp like a storm and it fainted.

"Slugma!" The fiery-bodied Pokemon landed in front of us and somehow didn't set the grass on fire.

"So, Brendan," May smirked. "I've got the advantage now. How will you cope?"

"Rock Tomb."

"Rock what?"

Nuzleaf hurled rocks at Slugma.

"You're not the only one who can do that! Rock Throw!"

Slugma hurled a rock at Nuzleaf.

"Tomb sounds better!"

Nuzleaf was barely hurt.

"Tomb! One more!" The rocks hit, and Slugma was down.

"Yikes!" May put into words. "You're better than I expected!" She congratulated me.

Taillow's ball started shaking.

I opened it up, and Taillow glowed. His wings expanded and his body grew.

Swellow flexed his wings, tail, and legs and cawed happily.

"Wow, Brendan, congrats! You've been busy training too, haven't you? You were on TV yesterday! Here, I'll heal both out teams!"

When she finished that, she added, "And now I think you deserve a reward too!"

"You've practiced striping?"

"Uh…no. Here, this is from me."

She handed me a small handheld electronic. It looked like a funky set of headphones, with two antennae extended from the band.

"That's a dowsing machine. Try it out-if there's a hidden item anywhere near you, that little thing will react to tell you. Pay attention and it'll lead you right to the items."

"Thanks, but probably not in public."

"Maybe it's not the most fashionable thing, but it's handy. See you later then, Brendan. Let's meet again!"

She hopped on her bike and sped away.


	12. Manectric, Masquerain, and Corphish

Taking out the rest of the trainers was rather easy. That night was spent in the Pokemon center.

The next day, I decided to explore the indoor high tech town of Mauville City, so I found the Mauville market place. There was a restaurant, a bike parking lot, and several other shops.

Then I caught sight of a boy with lime green hair and a light blue shirt.

Wally was with a mid-aged man. "Wow! So this is Mauville City!"

"Hahaha! You sure seem to be enjoying it, Wally. So what would you like to do? Do you want to grab a bite to eat at the Mauville Food Court?"

So that's what that place is called. "Or maybe we should get you a bike of your own at Rydel's Cycles. Would you like that? I bet the exercise would be good for your health!"

"No, thank you! I want to challenge the gym right away!"

"What?"

"Let me see… I'm pretty sure the Gym is…" Wally looked around, and then pointed north. "Yup! Straight ahead this way! Just through the inner courtyard!" Wally bristly walked that way.

"What? Hey! Wait!" His uncle, or at least I assumed he was, followed him. "Wally!?"

Wally's probably not ready for a Gym. Well, anyway…

Checking out the Pokemart, there were two cashiers instead of one, and the second one was selling TMs. They were a bit on the pricey side, so off I went to train.

And by train, I mean crush the dreams of a lot of trainers.

When I passed the Gym on my way to route 117, I saw Wally and his Uncle talking just outside of the door.

"Oh, come on, if Brendan can do it, so can I!"

"You're jumping to conclusions, Wally. You and Ralts have been in three battles total, and just because that Lisia girl said Brendan was skilled doesn't make him skilled! She could be wrong."

"He's got two badges! And you say he's not strong?"

"I'm touched."

"Oh, hey, Brendan."

"Listen, will you battle me?"

"Excuse me?"

"Ralts and I have gotten a lot stronger! My Uncle won't believe me!"

"Three battles, correct?"

"Yes."

I sighed. "Fine."

"Alright. We're going to win this, Ralts!" He whispered to Ralts' Pokeball.

'Not likely' I thought to myself.

"Go, Ralts!"

"Go, Surskit!"

"Fell Stinger!" Surskit shot a small needle at Ralts, who winced, but didn't take much damage.

"Magical Leaf!" Ralts summoned up glowing leaves and shot them at Surskit.

"Alright, Struggle Bug!" Surskit rushed and used its legs to jab at Ralts repeatedly.

"Lucky Chant!" Ralts seemed to fold its hands in prayer, and it mumbled something.

"Bubble beam!" Surskit shot a stream of bubbles at Ralts that exploded on contact.

Ralts Fainted.

"Wow… You really are strong…" he returned Ralts.

"Wait, that's it? No other Pokemon?"

"…No."

"Wally," I sighed. "I understand Ralts is special because he was your first Pokemon, but you'll need others to help you."

"…Uncle… I'll go back to Verdanturf." Wally looked at the floor. His uncle grinned. "Good, it's safer for you there."

His uncle turned to leave and Wally surprised me by glaring at him. Then he turned to me and smiled, "Brendan? I'm going to get stronger!"

I grinned. "Yes, you will. With time."

"Thanks," and like that he turned to leave.

"Oh, I almost forgot," His uncle said, "Here, Brendan, you should have this."

He handed me a reddish-brown colored disc with the words HM 6: Rock Smash printed on it.

"If you ever want to stop by our home in Verdanturf, I'm sure Wally would enjoy it, too. We'll look forward to seeing you."

And I parted ways with Wally. For now, anyway.

Next step. "Training," I grinned to myself.

First, I saw a house with a large fenced off area behind it, and an old man standing at the gate.

"Excuse me?"

"Ah, hello, Brendan, I'm the Day Care man."

"How do you know my name?"

"My daughter interviewed you."

"Lisia?"

"Yes. My wife and I are so proud of the young woman she's become, though she's always taking facies."

I took note of his grey hair. "Um, sir, I'm not an expert, but they're called selfies."

"Yes, well, anyway, my wife and I have this hobby of raising other people's pokemon. We're the Pokemon Day Care."

"And how would I register my Pokemon here?"

"You would have to talk to my wife. She's inside, behind the front desk."

"Thank you sir."

I found his wife inside the house. "Excuse me? Mrs. Day Care?

"Yes sir, how may I help you?"

I activated the PC. "I'd like to leave my Pokemon with you ma'am."

"We can raise two Pokemon for you. Which Pokemon do you want us to raise?"

I handed her Wingull's and Zigzagoon's Pokeballs.

"Ah, yes, will do, young man."

"Thank you."

After a couple more trainers were defeated I had enough money for one TM.

"Uh… I'll take TM 40: Aerial Ace please."

I was battling a Pokemon Breeder when it happened.

Both Electrike and Surskit evolved.

Electrike grew much taller, sleeker, his green fur turning blue. His mane spiked up, turning Yellow and crackling with lightning. The light cleared and I had a Manectric.

At the same time, Surskit's legs switched to wings, it's antennae grew and became decorated so it looked like two angry eyes.

Masquerain chirped happily.

"Listen buddy, it's great that you've evolved. But I need a water type on my team. But don't worry. I've got a special mission in mind for you…"

Once Masquerain left for Littleroot town, I grabbed Skitty's Pokeball from the PC and headed for Verdanturf town.

Along the way, I caught a Corphish using my old rod. I won't bore you with the details, since I literally had to chip away at him with Manectric's quick attacks over and over again.

But he's level 25, and knows Vice Grip, Leer, Bubble Beam, and Protect.

At last I reached Verdanturf and decided to spend the night at the Pokemon Center there.

 **Note: You can't catch Corphish on route 117. Or with an old rod. I decided Brendan needed a Water type. So I brought ol' Mr. Krabs over from Pokemon X using Pokemon Bank.**


	13. Wally's Dream Begins

"Did you come from far away?"

"Not really, Littleroot town is technically only a few miles to the south west."

"You're saying you come from Littleroot? My goodness! That's ridiculously far!"

"Yeah."

"If you had one of my bikes, you could go anywhere easily while feeling the gentle caress of the wind! I'll tell you what!"

"No need for the marketing tricks, I already want to buy a bike."

"I'll give you a bike!"

"I just said-" I paused. "Wha?"

"Oh wait a second! I forgot to tell you there are two kinds of bikes! They are the Mach Bike and the Acro Bike!"

"Okay."

"Mach bikes are for cyclists who want to feel the wild blowing wind as they ride! Acro Bikes are for those who prefer a technical ride! I'm a real sweetheart, so you can have whichever one you like!"

"Let me get this straight, I hear that Acro bikes are the ones that can do sweet tricks, right?"

"The kind that steals girlfriends, yes."

"Acro Bike it is."

"If you get the urge to switch bikes, just come see me! Also, they're collapsible!"

Now that I had access to the cycling road, I did what I always did when I reached a new area.

Decimate the trainers.

But before I did that, I noticed a small area by the Mauville Cycling Road entrance.

It wasn't fenced off, and there was a lady back there.

Somehow she wasn't on a bike, even though you're supposed to be on one at all times when you're on the Cycling Road.

"My passionate love for my bike has brought me here!"

"What bike? Go, Corphish!"

Beauty Melissa sent out Goldeen.

"Aerial Ace!" Corphish raked one sharpened pincer across Goldeen's body, severely damaging it.

"Water Pulse!" Corphish easily took the attack without staggering.

"Again!"

Corphish repeated the attack and down the Goldeen went.

Once what's her name ran off, a light entered the corner of my eye.

"Oh, dear Palkia, what's that glare?"

I looked over and noticed a round, glassy looking object embedded in the dirt. Pulling it out and brushing it off, it was small, easily fitting into the palm of my hand. It was a perfectly round, glassy sphere.

"A Dragon ball?" Nope. No stars. But wait, it had a large curvy symbol on it, with a blue and red decal design.

Was this a Mega Stone? I had heard of the recent scientific breakthrough on the news a few months back. Supposedly, these stones, when put together with a keystone, use the emotional trust between a trainer and their Pokemon and resonate together, turning that bond into tangible energy. The Pokemon then absorbs the energy and it transforms into a more powerful version of itself.

I decided to have Professor Birch take a look, stuffing the stone in my bag.

Taking out the rest of the trainers proved easy as ever.

Since I was close by, I figured I could go and get another TM from the Slateport Market.

I ended up leaving with TM 1: Hone Claws.

Arriving in Mauville once more, I decided to head straight for the Gym this time.

The Gym was really high tech, with steel flooring and electrical beams crisscrossing each other.

"My melody will shatter your whole world, yeah-ah!" The first trainer said, who also happened to be a guitarist.

Guitarist Kirk sent out Magnemite!

"Go, Mightyena! Rock smash!"

Mightyena curled his paws and brought them down on Magnemite's head. It fainted instantly.

"Go, Electrike!"

"Go, Nuzleaf!"

"Quick Attack!" Electrike rammed itself into Nuzleaf at breakneck speed.

"Razor Leaf!" Nuzleaf summoned up a whirlwind of leaves and sent them at Electrike. They slashed across Electrike's body and it collapsed.

I stepped on a switch to deactivate the electric beams in my way.

Hitting the other switch and I could advance to the next room. My next opponent was apparently one of those "Youngsters."

"This Gym's got puzzles! Isn't it fun?"

A minute later the kid was crying and broke, but that's none of my business.

Deactivating another switch, I moved on.

My next opponent was a girl named Vivian.

"With my charm and my Pokemon's moves, you'll be shocked!"

"Nice Pun."

"I almost thought you said nice buns."

"That too. Go, Mightyena!"

"Go, Meditite!"

"Doesn't this Gym specialize in Electric types? Swagger!"

Mightyena puffed out his chest and stuck his nose in the air as if bragging that he was better than Meditite.

Somehow this confused Meditite, who became angry and delirious.

"Meditate!" Vivian shouted. Meditite smacked itself. "I said Meditate! Arceus this is stupid!"

"Girl, you just hatin' on our Super Sexy Swagger." Mightyena barked in agreement.

"Assurance!" Mightyena swiped his paws at Meditite who fainted.

"I'm shocked by your power." Vivian remarked.

"The last girl I met said the exact same thing."

"Ugh!" Vivian stormed off in annoyance. I couldn't help but smirk as I hit the next switch.

I ended up battling another Guitarist, who said, "I trained under Wattson! There ain't no way I'd lose easily!"

"Congratulations, you're still weaker than the last ten trainers I've beaten. Go, Mightyena!"

Guitarist Shawn sent out Voltorb.

"Assurance!" Mightyena swiped his paws at Voltorb who fainted and rolled away.

So Shawn sent out another Voltorb.

"Oh dear Jirachi, please don't tell me you've got three of them on you."

"So what if I do?"

"So Assurance!" Mightyena swiped his paws across Voltorb's face. It fainted.

Shawn didn't move.

"That's it?"

"Yeah."

"Weak."

I walked on, until finally I reached the top platform where a man stood with his back to me. He was looking at a large metal orb that seemed to be absorbing electricity.

He turned to me. He was bald, but had a white scraggily beard. He wore a yellow jumpsuit, with a tropical vest over the top of it.

"Oh? Now, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, just that thing that all young Pokemon Trainers do in a Gym."

"Taking Facies?"

"That's-I'm challenging you to a battle."

"So you've gotten past all my rigged doors?"

"You mean those electrical beams? Yeah. Pretty shocking how easy that was."

"Did you just…"

"Yep."

"Wahahahaha! Now, that is amusing!"

"Let's just get this over with. Mightyena!"

Leader Wattson sent out Magnemite.

"Rock Smash!" Mightyena reared back on his hind legs and brought his curled paws down on Magnemite's head.

"Thunder wave!" Magnemite radiated waves of Electricity. Mightyena got hit with them and spasmed as he had difficulty moving. "One more time, Buddy, you can do it!"

Wattson healed Magnemite with a super potion. "Volt Switch!"

Magnemite shrouded itself in electricity, and hit Mightyena. It then bounced back and returned to it's Pokeball. "Go, Voltorb!"

Mightyena couldn't move, and probably couldn't take another hit like that. Damn this guy.

"Switch! Go, Combusken!"

"Volt switch!" Voltorb hit Combusken with electricity then switched out for Magnemite, who was low on Power.

"Flame Charge!" Combusken surrounded himself in fire and rammed Magnemite, who fainted.

"Well then. Voltorb."

"Flame Charge!" Combusken kicked off the ground and crashed into Voltorb with fire surrounding him.

Voltorb fainted.

"Go, Magneton!"

He sent out a Pokemon that looked like three Magnemites stuck together.

"Flame Charge!" Combusken used the move again and Magneton went down.

"What the-"

"Badge please."

"Wahahahaha! Fine, I lost!" He handed me a lot of Prize money.

"I was electrified by you!" Wattson exclaimed. "Now take this badge!" He handed me the badge. "With the Dynamo Badge, pokemon can use HM Rock Smash outside of battle. All righty then, this here's for you too! Go on, take it with you!" he handed me a yellow disc with the words TM 72: Volt Switch printed on it in black letters.

"I swell with optimism, seeing a promising young trainer like you!"

"Um, when you say swell, you don't mean…"

"What?"

"Nothing."

That evening I made my way to Verdanturf town, where the fresh air rustled the grass.

The moon rose in the air by the time I arrived, but I called Wally's PokeNav anyway.

"The hell, man, it's seven o'clock at night. I'm sleeping."

"Most kids your age are up until midnight yelling at each other over CoD."

"I'm fourteen."

"Sorry, thought you were twelve."

"Listen, pack your bag, you're going on a journey."

"Wait, you mean it?" His tone rose with excitement.

"Keep it down. Come outside for the plan."

A minute or two later, Wally was out there with me.

"So, how are we doing this?"

"Well phase one is right here." I handed him Skitty's Pokeball, "This is Skitty. He'll be accompanying you."

"Oh, wow, you're just giving him to me?"

"He knows Sucker Punch, which his kind don't normally know. He's also a great for cuddling and getting girls."

"Okay."

"And the other Pokemon I wanted to give you is in Littleroot town."

"That's miles away!"

"Look, it's not as difficult as it seems. I'm gonna clear out the rest of the rubble in Rustturf tunnel. You can go to Rustboro, go south through the woods, and then sneak through Petalburg city. Then get past Oldale town and get to Littleroot. Then call out for Masquerain and he'll give you your next Pokemon." I instructed Wally.

"Not sure I can make it through Petalburg."

"You'll have to do it at night."

"Don't cops patrol the city looking for teens out past curfew?"

"Please, there are no cops there, that place is ghetto."

"Is that why your Dad works there?"

"Yes. Come on."

When we first entered the cave, there was a hiker trainer by the entrance.

"Crap." Wally muttered.

"What, he's just a commoner."

"That's not it. He knows my Uncle, he'll talk."

"I'll silence him. Hey, barrel of monkeys, I need to battle you!"

"Hey aren't you that Wally kid?"

"Hey, I'm your opponent, focus on me here! Go, Nuzleaf!"

"Go, Geodude!"

"Razor Leaf!" Nuzleaf summoned up a gust of razor sharp leaves. They hit Geodude and it collapsed.

"Go, Machop!"

"Razor Leaf again!" Even though Machop fainted, some of the sharp leaves embedded them in the hiker's chest and he fainted as well, hitting his head on a rock on the way down.

"Rock Smash!" Mightyena brought his curled paws down on the rocks in our way.

"Let's go!"

We arrived in Rustboro shortly.

"Alright, man, this is where you'll have to continue alone. I'm gonna spend the night here, but you'll want to keep going. Got enough energy for it?"

"I think I can manage. Skitty and Ralts will keep me safe."

"Alright, be careful, and happy battling."

 **Thank you guys for reading!**

 **I'd like to thank Duskzilla for his review on Chapter 1. He asked what Brendan found in May's dresser drawer.**

 **"I guess you're going to miss the Panty Raid" – Patrick Star.**


	14. Just Passing Through

After purchasing Tm 98: Power-up Punch from the Mauville Pokemart, I decided that I no longer needed to stick around in the heart of Hoenn, and I continued my journey by heading north.

On the way out I noticed two guys by the north exit, both in red hoodies and baggy dark red pants.

"Where are we supposed to be, um… Where are we going again?"

"It's Mt. Chimney! Stay spaced out, and you'll get scolded by Maxie!"

"Mt. Chimney…" The other guy mumbled. "It'll be a long walk going along Route 112 to get there. I wish I'd brought some snacks…"

And they exited stage left.

Route 111 was carved into a canyon with large cliffs on either side.

There were quite a few bushes and trees randomly scattered around the mountainous route, with a house next to a pond on my left.

Deciding to ignore it, I moved on. I came across a few large rocks in my way in the pass to the rest of the route.

Mightyena swept up the pesky stones in less than a minute.

There was even a revive underneath one rock. Alright, time for the routine.

Once the trainers were defeated, I had at last arrived at Mt. Chimney so I could investigate what those hoodies were up to.

Heh, get it?

Mt. Chimney was in sight. And so was May.

"Brendan! Look! Right up there! That's Mt. Chimney!"

I could see smoke billowing out from the peak from here.

"It sure is big." May commented.

"That's what she-"

SLAP!

"Here." May shoved another disc case into my hands.

"HM 4: Strength."

"Because you clearly don't work out."

"Well, excuse me for not being Mr. Machamp."

"Anyway, it'll probably come in handy for the mountainous terrain up ahead." May turned to leave.

"May, hold on."

"What?"

"Stay on your toes. There are some thugs running around in this area."

"Why are you telling me this and not the Authorities?"

"Because I care."

"Y-you do?"

"I'm aware of the fact that I have a… unique way of showing it, but yes."

I could have sworn I saw May smile when she said, "I gotta go visit Professor Cozmo in Fallarbor Town. I'll see you later."

After I had finished off a hiker's Machop, Corphish began to glow. He grew larger, his pincers more bulky.

When the light faded, Crawdaunt cried out in pride of his transformation.

There was a station where people could ride a ski lift sort of thing up to the peak of the volcano. Three more guys in red hoodies and dark red baggy pants blocked the entrance. I either had to deal with them or take a detour through the cave through the side of the volcano. I checked my PokeNav, seeing the cave was called the Fiery Path. Heading through there, the cave was devoid of any trainers.

Coming out of the other side, I saw sunlight and the next side of route 112.

A thug approached me.

"I'm not such an amateur that I'm going to take it easy just because you're a kid."

Street Thug Jaylin sent out Mightyena.

"Go, Crawdaunt! Night Slash!"

Crawdaunt cloaked one pincer in shadows and raked it across Mightyena's chest.

"Swagger!" Jaylin's Mightyena puffed out his chest and Crawdaunt became angry.

"Switch! Go, Swellow!" Swellow flew onto the battlefield.

"Snarl!" Mightyena produced a black sound wave that hit Swellow.

"Supersonic!" Swellow sent sound waves at Mightyena, causing it to sway and get confused.

"Snarl!" Jaylin shouted. Mightyena face planted. I stifled a laugh.

"Aerial Ace!"

Swellow circled above, gaining more and more speed until he was a blur. He then dive bombed and cut across Mightyena's body. Mightyena fainted.

"That was the work of a pro…" Jaylin muttered.

The route curved north. The next trainer was apparently an Ace trainer. They were a bunch of hot shots around the country all dressed up and their hair gelled up. Ironically, they weren't great battlers.

"Show me how much you've toughened up your Pokemon." He said. Ace Trainer Wilton sent out Electrike.

"Crawdaunt, Night Slash!" Crawdaunt cloaked one pincer in shadow and smacked Electrike in the face with it. Electrike fainted.

"Go, Makuhita!"

"Swellow! Aerial Ace!"

Swellow circled above in the air, gaining speed, then slashed the fighting type with his beak. Makuhita fainted.

"Bagon!" Bagon was a small Dragon-type, with a blue body and a yellow underbelly. It had what seemed to be a gray helmet covering the top of his head.

"Swellow, Supersonic!" Swellow sent those sound waves in Bagon's direction. Bagon swayed on it's feet but managed to land a head-butt.

"Aerial Ace!" Swellow circled and dived, slashing his beak on Bagon's belly. Bagon struggled to regain his footing.

"Dragon Rage!" Bagon shot a long stream of purplish fire at Swellow. Swellow flew back a bit.

"Swellow, Aerial Ace!" Swellow slashed Bagon once more and Bagon fainted.

"Bagon Return." Wilton sighed. "I see, you've toughened yours considerably."

"And you haven't toughened yours at all. Stay golden, Pony boy."

The next trainer wasn't exactly expected. She was a little girl, blonde and in a pink dress running about in circles.

"Are you looking for Pokemon as well?" She asked me.

"There's not even any tall grass around here. Are you sure-"

"Spoink!" She sent out her Pokemon.

"Oh, ok, I guess we're doing this now. Crawdaunt! Night Slash!"

Crawdaunt slashed his pincer across Spoink's body. Spoink fainted.

"Mawile!" Crawdaunt stepped back a few steps.

"So Mawile has intimidate. Bubble Beam!" Crawdaunt sent out a stream of bubbles that exploded on contact. Mawile fainted.

"You are a strong trainer." She said with the same soulless eyes.

Continuing found me at the front door of a house with the sign that displayed: "Grandma Gladys' Bed and Breakfast."

Stepping inside, I found who I assumed to be Grandma Gladys.

"Oh, dear me. Aren't you and your Pokemon exhausted! You ought to stop and rest a bit here. Yes indeedy. That's exactly what you should do."

"Yes, thank you."

After napping:

"Oh dear me. Are you and your Pokemon still tired?"

"No, we're just fine."

"You should take another little rest here."

"No thank you."

"Yes indeedy. That's what you should do."

"No thank you."

I ran out the door.

Another Ace trainer stopped me. This one was a girl, with long green hair.

"Oh, you and your Pokemon look quite strong."

"If that's what you want, it's thirty bucks."

"We simply must have a battle."

"Oh nevermind then."

Ace Trainer Brooke sent out Wingull.

Either these people need a lot more training, or I'm just ridiculously over leveled.


	15. Meteor Falls

The road ahead got darker. Ashes fell from the sky and covered everything in a layer of brownish gray.

No, I'm not writing a heavy metal song. The road was literally covered in volcanic ash.

"Hey!" My gaze turned from the sky, to May, as she saw me and advanced towards me.

"This route is pretty long, I got tired, so I thought I'd take a break."

"Maybe you're just lazy."

"No, I'm tired. And your Pokémon seem to be as well. Let me heal them."

Once she had finished that, "I'm on my way to pay a visit to Professor Cozmo. He's famous on his research on Meteorites. He was working on a project with my dad on how Meteorites might affect Pokemon."

May scanned the landscape around us as I said, "Cozmo? Is his hair green?"

"Oh hah hah. Enough dawdling! I think it's not much farther to Fallarbor. I already took care of the trainers on this route, but who knows, they might've run back to the Pokemon Center and made it back by now."

"Hey, you didn't have to do that for me, those guys are great practice dummies."

"I know right?"

The rest of the route wasn't a challenge, as I picked up TM 32: Double Team.

Once we arrived in Fallarbor town, May went off to Professor Cozmo's house while I went to the Pokemon Center to heal what little damage had been done to my team. Then I decided to follow May, as there wasn't a Pokemon Gym in this town as far as I could tell. Heading south to find the house, May came running around the corner and knocked me over, and she landed on top of me.

"Argh! Brendan! What a disaster!"

"Personally this isn't half bad."

"Brendan! Get up, stop flirting, and come with me!"

She led me back inside the house.

A middle aged woman sat at the table.

"You see…" May began. "Professor Cozmo…He got abducted by some weird guys calling themselves Team Something or Other…"

"Mrs. Cozmo, did these thugs happen to be wearing baggy black pants, a white and black striped shirt, and a blue bandana?"

"No. These shady characters… they called themselves Team Magma. It seems as though they plan to do something with the Meteorite that the professor had been researching."

"I see."

"He's just too gullible. If you show the least bit of interest in his research, he would happily go with you anywhere, without question."

"Well if he went with them willingly, it doesn't sound like a problem."

"Brendan."

"But those thugs ought to make good target practice. I'll go get him myself."

I was already on my way out when May stopped me again.

"I'm coming with you."

"Why?"

May sighed. "I quote, because I care."

Getting TM 5: Roar from a gentleman on the side of the road, and TM 28: Dig from a young boy scout looking kid along the way, Route 114 had slightly more difficult terrain.

I arrived in the mountainous area not too long after and found the cave entrance to Meteor Falls. The rock was a light tan color. Various crags and spikes poked up, and the water pools seemed to be glowing. We spotted a guy in a lab coat talking to the guys in red outfits I had seen in Mauville.

One wasn't wearing his hood though.

"Ok, May, we need to go about this stealthily."

"Give it up you bozos! Let the professor go!" May yelled.

"Bozos?"

"…You put me on the spot."

"I disagree."

"Hyuh? What have we here? Why has this child suddenly appeared?"

"We prefer the term 'Young Almost Adults'."

"Brendan! We've got to save Professor Cozmo from these people!"

"There are two of them and two of us. Let's go."

"Ahyahyahya! Isn't this amusing?!" The one without a hood cackled. "Is it really your intention to oppose me, a Team Magma Admin, just the two of you? Very well then. I'll show you how terrifying adults can be?"

"Not at all?"

"…"

"Mightyena!"

Magma Admin Tabitha sent out Mightyena!

Team Magma grunt sent out Koffing!

May sent out Shroomish.

"Swagger! On Mightyena!"

My Mightyena puffed out his chest and barked. Tabitha's Mightyena grew angry.

Then Tabitha's Mightyena used the same move on Shroomish.

Shroomish used Mega Drain on Tabitha's Mightyena, stealing some power.

Koffing used Acid, spitting this vile purple liquid on Shroomish. The grass-type staggered and struggled to regain solid ground.

"Assurance!" Mightyena swiped his paws on Koffing's face.

Both the other Mightyena and Shroomish smacked themselves in the face from the confusion. Koffing hit Shroomish with Acid again. Shroomish fainted.

"Go, Marshtomp!" May cried as she threw the Pokeball. Her starter Pokemon arrived.

"Rock Smash!" Mightyena punched the other Mightyena, who responded by smacking himself, who then got hit by Marshtomp's Mud Shot. Tabitha's Mightyena fainted.

"Explosion!" Koffing exploded, then fainted. Mightyena and Marshtomp sustained little damage.

"I-I'm sorry, what was the point of that?"

"Numel!" Tabitha sent out Numel, a Pokemon with a round body and short stubby legs. A large hump on it's back was a green color as opposed to the rest of it's body, which was yellow.

"You're kidding, right? Assurance!" Mightyena swiped his paws across Numel's body.

"Mud Bomb!" Marshtomp produced a large ball of dirt and mud and threw it at Numel, who fainted on contact.

"S-So strong!" The Grunt exclaimed.

"W-wha?" Tabitha couldn't believe his eyes. "Hyuhn? An unexpected development?"

"We did it, Brendan!"

"You children! I would like you to stay out of my way!"

"Says the guy who just lost. Violence didn't work, so now you're trying to be polite?" I said as I advanced towards him, and he backed away slowly. "You are in no position to be giving May and I orders!"

"Team Magma's scientific progress, Mt. Chimney's energy…And the hidden power of the meteorite! If we combine them all, a super-ancient Pokemon…"

"Super-ancient Pokemon? I've heard that before. What are you trying to do?" I demanded. "Great, so now we've got a bunch of myth believing hippies on our hands. Now all we need are the pirates and we'll have the whole posse of piss-ants."

"Bwahahahahahahaha!" A laugh echoed around the chamber. "You lost to this scamp? What a pathetic bunch! You lazy stooges will be the downfall of Team Magma!"

"Wh-Who's there?" May shrunk back behind me.

Archie emerged from behind the rocks along with two grunts of his own. Tabitha glared at him.

"Hyahya! Even Team Aqua is making an appearance! The odds do not appear to be in my favor." Tabitha growled. His Grunt took a few steps back. He turned to her. "You there! I'll have the Meteorite now!"

"Yes sir!" She handed it to him.

"Well, well, well… Adios to each and every one of you! At long last, I'm off to Mt. Chimney!" Tabitha and his grunt pushed past me, over the bridge, and out the cave exit.

"Tch!"

"Archie! We will go after those monsters!" his grunt said.

"That's right! We're not letting them get away!"

He pushed past me as well. "Archie, wait." He stopped as his grunts continued.

"Oh, What's this? Looks like you were getting into it with Team Magma there, 'less my eyes deceive me."

"I'll be there at Mt. Chimney."

"It's not like I'm in a position to argue if that's what you're up to, hey? I imagine I'll be seeing you."

He left.


	16. Battle of Mt Chimney

After escorting Professor Cozmo to his home in Fallarbor town, his wife was quick to fawn over him.

"Oh, thank Arceus you're home, Cozmo! Are you ok?"

"Aaaaaaghaaagaaaghagah," He cleverly answered.

"He's still out of it." May told her.

"Oh, yes, this happens sometimes," She sighed and led the professor over to his bed by the side of the room. Laying him down, she padded over to his desk.

"Thank you for returning him home, kids."

"It was no trouble ma'am." May said.

"Well…"

May kicked me in the shins.

"OW!"

"Don't mind my friend. He has a twisted sense of humor."

"Oh, well, anyway. I'd like to give you these as my thanks." She handed both of us light brownish discs with the words TM 23: Smack Down printed on them in black lettering.

"So, Brendan, what are you going to do now?"

"Well, I'm gonna go find those thugs and lay the smackdown on them!"

"…"

"…"

"Aaaaaaghaggaaaaaghaagh."

"Let's just go back to Mauville."

May and I set off for Meteor Falls, then went south to Rustboro City where we stayed for the night. The next day we covered Route 116, went through Rustturf Tunnel, Route 117, and finally arrived in Mauville.

"So, you still need to beat this place's Gym, right?" I asked.

"Yeah. And you?"

"I'm gonna check out Mt. Chimney."

"Be careful."

I raced through route 111 and 112 until I arrived at Mt. Chimney.

"The Cable Car us ready to depart. Would you like to board it?"

"Yes please."

Once I arrived and stepped outside the cable car station, I spotted multiple Team Aqua and Team Magma grunts battling each other at every available open space. Archie himself was taking three of them at once.

"Out of my way, ye vermin. Or face a keelhauling!"

"Yeah, think I'm gonna stay out of that one."

Then I spotted one female Team Magma Grunt standing on the path leading to the west side of the crater.

"That however…"

One mauled grunt later, I continued on to find that big guy from Team Magma, Tabitha, guarding the bridge overlooking the lava.

"Hyahyahya?! It's you! You're the one who tried to interrupt me, Tabitha, at Meteor Falls! D-d-do you intend to get in my way once more? Unngh!" He snorted. "You're really... really, really, really, really, really, really... really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really... **reeeallllyyyy... an obnoxious child, aren't you?!** Ahh... Ah... I will...crush you. So that you..never get in my way...again."

I then noticed his eyes were bloodshot. And he stunk. Terribly.

"Are you…stoned?"

"Koffing!"

"Mightyena! Assurance!"

Mightyena swiped his paws across Koffing's body.

"Self Destruct!"

"Wait, wha?"

Koffing puffed out it's body until it exploded. Mightyena got knocked back, but dug his paws into the dirt below him to keep his ground. Koffing fainted and Tabitha recalled him.

"Ok, you're high."

"Numel!"

"Assurance!" Mightyena swiped his paws on Numel.

Numel fainted.

"Yet again? Hyuhn?" Tabitha yelped.

"I knew you would be strong." He sighed, then grinned. "What a shame, though! The Meteorite we got from Professor Whoever is already in our Boss's hands! Where's the Boss, you ask? Ah, yes, yes, right this way!" He gestured to the glass bridge overlooking the lava. "Oh, I do hope that you can be shown Team Magma's true power! Ahya! Ahyahyahyahya!"

Pushing past him, I saw a man in a red lab coat and glasses standing next to a machine with a glass dome that contained the meteorite.

"The power contained in the Meteorite... If we merge the explosive energy contained within the planet's core with the Meteorite's power..." he mumbled to himself. He then turned to greet me.

"Hm? Who are you? ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... I'd heard Archie bemoaning a child who's been meddling with Team Aqua's affairs. It must be you he meant. My name is Maxie. I lead an organization known as Team Magma."

"Yeah, I already heard of you, and I don't like you."

"Humph! So you're thinking of interfering with us, Team Magma? Fine. I will attempt to educate you."

He adjusted his glasses.

"Thousands of years ago, there lived a most powerful being that was said to be capable of creating new lands on the planet. The power that we in Team Magma seek— This power, which can expand the available landmass, belongs to a legendary and super-ancient Pokémon. Though now it slumbers, having lost the source of its power and been trapped in a deep sleep. So what is it that we must do to awaken this slumbering giant? Our research has led us here, to Mt. Chimney. Yes, here...to this very Meteorite. If we create the right conditions, we should find ourselves able to alter this Meteorite's qualities. Yes, even into a Mega Stone. Even into a Key Stone. And here, at Mt. Chimney—" He stopped and chuckled. "Hmph... I should not say too much. That is the end of today's lesson."

He spread his arms. _"_ Now then. I believe it is time we begin. The time for the purge has come."

"I saw that movie. Plot wasn't great, which I'm sure you can relate to."

"Ah, teenagers." Maxie "I will bury you by my own hand. I hope you appreciate this honor! Mightyena!"

He tossed a poke ball and a Mightyena appeared from it.

Time seemed to slow as a stream of blue and red light slammed into Maxie's Mightyena.

An Altaria descended from the air in front of me and cawed viciously.

"That's it, Altaria!"'

Maxie's Mightyena had fainted.

"Grrrrrr…" Maxie fumed. "Who are you?"

"My name is Zinnia! Now hand over your keystone!"

 **Please comment, favorite, or follow! It really helps me out!**


	17. Recuperating

Zinnia was a girl who seemed to be my age, with short black hair reaching down to her ears. She wore a black t-shirt and sand colored short shorts and matching leggings, with a cape of the same color draped over her shoulders, buttoned on her left shoulder. She wore black sandals and an anklet wrapped around her right lower leg. A round, glistening gemstone was embedded in the end of it.

"You want my Keystone? Ridiculous girl! Golbat, Show her to the proverbial door!" Maxie shouted.

His Golbat appeared and cried out. "Confuse Ray!" Maxie ordered.

Golbat produced some weird balls of light and sent them at Altaria, who simply dodged them.

"What the…?"

"Shut up, kid, you're next!" The girl glared at me.

"Aerial Ace!" Altaria began moving at an incredibly fast rate, then slashed across Golbat's back and it fainted.

Maxie fumed. "How dare you! If you truly wish to see the power of my mega evolution capabilities than so be it! Camerupt!"

Maxie unleashed a new Pokemon; it looked like a donkey with red fur and short stumpy legs with hooved feet. Blue rings marked the sides of it's body and volcano like structures pointed up from it's back. A red-ish gemstone with blue and tan colored decorations hung from it's neck on a chain.

"Now witness the full extent of my power!" Maxie removed his glasses and I could see another glistening stone embedded in the side of them. "Now, Camerupt, Mega Evolve!" Maxie cried. His stone began to glow and tendrils of light reached out. The Cameruptite stone began to glow as well, reaching out with fingers of red light that met with the tendrils of light emitted from Maxie. They collided and Camerupt itself began to glow and change. The lava below us began to broil and crash on the rocky shore.

Finally it calmed and the light subsided. Camerupt's fur was now longer and shaggier, the blue markings gone. One single volcano rested on it's back. Camerupt had a crest of sharp red fur sticking up on top of it's head.

So it basically looked slow, but tough, like a tank.

Zinnia simply smiled and withdrew her Altaria into her Pokeball.

"Garchomp, let's show him." A Garchomp emerged. It was a Ground Dragon type, not native to Hoenn. He had purplish skin, long, skinny arms ending in single sharp spikes with fins extending from the forearms. It's lower jaw was a red color extending all the way down to it's belly where it ended in a yellow stripe. He had a thick tail which had two back pointing fins sticking out on the top and bottom.

"GAAAAAAARRRRR!" It roared. "Now then, Garchomp," Zinnia reached down to grab her anklet, "Mega Evolve!" The same lights emitted from the stone on Zinnia's anklet, and the purple Garchompite with red and yellow décor on Garchomp's necklace. As Garchomp began to glow, I could feel the pressure in he air increase and seem to draw towards the dragon.

It grew and it's claws merged with the fins on it's arms, forming scythes. All of it's spikes grew sharper and when the light cleared, Garchomp roared.

"Lava Plume!" Maxie shouted. Camerupt concentrated and called up a stream of lava from below and hurled it at Garchomp.

"Dragon Claw." Zinnia sighed. Garchomp's scythes glowed green and he literally cut the lava wave apart. Garchomp rushed Camerupt and raked his claws on it's sides. Camerupt promptly fainted.

Maxie couldn't speak. He recalled Camerupt, then reached into his jacket and pulled out a small object. He threw it on the ground and smoke billowed out everywhere.

When the smoke cleared, Maxie was gone. Strangely, so was the girl and her dragon.

I retrieved the meteorite from the machine as Archie approached.

"Huh? If it ain't that little scamp! But blast that Maxie! He just escaped us! And he just left behind the Meteorite that he's been crazy about finding? Can't be—! Could he have found out where the real orbs are hidden?! That sneaky little scientific so-and-so! I'm always left watching his bony backside run two steps ahead of me!"

"…"

"What happened to you, kid, seems like you've been to Davy Jones' locker and back."

"Enough with the pirate theme, you thug! Did you not just see the battle between that girl and Maxie? She totally kicked his ass, she was barely trying!"

Archie rose an eyebrow. "You make that sound like a bad thing, though I don't know who this girl you're talking about is."

"She said her name was Zinnia, she's a dragon type specialist from the looks of it. She took out Maxie's Mightyena and Golbat with an Altaria, so Maxie brought out his Camerupt and had it Mega Evolve, so she recalled Altaria and sent out Garchomp." I explained. "She mega evolved him and he dealt with Camerupt in one blow."

"Really? Serves that Einstein some."

"She's not on your side either, I can tell you that much. She didn't seem friendly to anyone." I crossed my arms. "For whatever reason, she demanded for Maxie's keystone."

"So what if some dragon chic has her own ship to sail?" Archie said. "We've got places to be kid, so anchors away."

He and his team left.

A few minutes of thinking and a TM 59: Incinerate later, I left as well.

The Jagged pass was a rocky route running down Mt. Chimney's southern slope. Volcanic ash covered the red rocks and green trees, turning the route's landscape grey. There were few Pokemon species that lived here, a couple trainers, and a few treasures to be found. I found TM 43: Flame Charge and TM 69: Rock Polish along the way.

Dealing with the trainers wasn't to hard, though I found myself in a corner once or twice. I had to admit, seeing someone as powerful as Zinnia kinda put me at unease.

Nevertheless, I found myself at Lavaridge Town soon enough.

Healing my team at the Pokemon Center was first off my list, then I decided to check out the hot springs that everyone talked about. I relaxed and reflected on what I had witnessed upon Mt. Chimney's peak.

The next day, I challenged the Lavaridge Pokemon Gym.

"WELCOME!" Flannery, the Gym Leader, hesitated, "No, wait, I mean… Puny trainer, you've done well to make it this far!" She hesitated again. "Let's see. I'm, uh, honored to be serving as the Gym Leader of…"

"Look, I'm short on time. So can you just shut it and battle me?"

Flannery's eyes darted elsewhere. "Uh… You'd better not underestimate me just cause I've only been leader for a short time! With the skills inherited from my grandfather, I'm gonna, uh, demonstrate the hot moves we've honed in this land!"

I frowned. "Ok, now you're making it sound like this is a dancing studio. Let's just battle and get this over with."

Flannery sighed. "Slugma."

"Crawdaunt!"

I thought for a moment. "Ok, let's start this off with Razor Shell!" Crawdaunt's pincer glowed light blue and he raked on the Slugma's body.

The water-type energy of the attack seriously hurt the fire-type Pokemon, whose body was literally mostly fire. It fainted instantly, though the flames of it's body hit Crawdaunt and burnt his pincer.

Crawdaunt hissed, but seemed to mostly be ok. "Hang on, man, you can do it." I called.

"Numel!" She sent out her next pokemon.

"Razor Shell!" Numel fainted.

"Torkoal!"

"Razor Shell." Torkoal actually maintained his ground, his shell providing a little more defenses.

"Sunny Day!" Torkoal shot a beam of light into the air above us. It hovered there by the ceiling and then manifested into a ball of light.

"Razor Shell!" Torkoal took even less damage then last time.

"Curse!" Torkoal muttered something and his speed decreased, but his attack and defense power increased.

"Razor Shell!" I growled. Crawdaunt swiped his good pincer on Torkoal's leg.

Torkoal took even less damage.

"Curse!" Torkoal repeated the move. Then Flannery called him back and gave him a spray on healing potion.

"Razor Shell!" Crawdaunt swiped his claw on Torkoal's chest, but Torkoal, despite being a fire-type, withstood the water type attack without taking much damage at all.

"Damn." Crawdaunt was getting worse and worse from that burn he sustained. "Return." Crawdaunt was sucked back inside his Pokeball.

"Swellow! Aerial Ace!"

"Overheat!" Torkoal inhaled sharply, then fire erupted from the holes in his shell, washing over Swellow's body.

Swellow was terribly damaged, but he survived, slashing across Torkoal's chest.

Torkoal responded with a body slam.

Swellow fainted.

I withdrew him, said some praise, then sent out Mightyena. "Assurance!"

Mightyena swiped his paws rapidly on Torkoal's body. It didn't do much.

"Curse!" Torkoal muttered some sort of chant and his speed decreased, and his attack and defense went up.

"Assurance!" Mightyena swiped his paws on Torkoal's face. It barely flinched.

"Ok, this shit's getting really old!"

Torkoal body slammed Mightyena; dealing heavy blows.

"Tch! Assurance!"

Torkoal finally fainted.

"Oh, I guess I was trying to hard…" Flannery sighed and recalled Torkoal.

"Yeah, you kinda were!"

She handed me my prize money. "I…I've only recently become a Gym leader. I guess I was trying too hard to be someone I'm not."

"That's great, where's my badge?"

"Here." She handed me a badge that looked like a flaming rock. "If you have the Heat Badge, it lets you use the HM move strength outside of battle."

"I still don't understand why I can't go certain places without Badges."

"This is a token of my appreciation. Don't be shy about taking it!" She handed me a TM. TM 50: Overheat was printed on it. "Overheat is a fire-type move that inflicts serious damage on the target. But it only cuts the special attack of the Pokemon using it, so it might not be suitable for longer battles."

"Thanks, Flannery. Next time, just cut to the chase and battle."

"Sorry about all that monologue."

"You're not the first."

May greeted me outside of the Gym. "Brendan! Wow, it's a relief to see you in one piece!"

"Thanks, May." I muttered.

"What's wrong, did Team Whatsit give you a bad time?" She teased.

"No, they're not the problem. I was just about to battle Maxie, the leader of Team Magma, but then this girl named Zinnia jumps in and beats him in less than two minutes." I sighed. "And as much as I hate to admit it, she scared me a little."

"To be honest, you needed to be taken down a peg."

"I'm serious, May! This girl was hostile, and she could use Mega Evolution!"

"Wait, she could?" May's eyes widened.

"Yes, she had a Garchomp that could do it."

"Hey, is that the Meteorite?" She inquired about the rock in the side pocket of my bag.

"Yeah, I'm gonna return it to Professor Cozmo, soon."

"Yeah, I'll call him, and tell him we got the stone back."

She dialed his phone number.

"Um,… I think he still hasn't recovered."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he's still… doing that thing…"

I sighed. "Well, how am I supposed to defeat Zinnia?"

"Maybe you ought to go train really hard for a while. Have you been to the desert yet?"

"Yeah, I tried going in there, but…"

A few days earlier…

"Oh, a desert, this is-AGH! MY EYES!"

"Yeah I tried to, but there's always a storm going on over there."

"Then you'll need these." She handed me a pair of goggles. "If you put on those Go-goggles, you'll be-"

"Go-goggles? Who names these things?"

"I don't know."

I set off for route 111.


	18. Trapinch, Blaziken, and Norman's defeat

"Razor Shell!" Crawdaunt's pincer glowed light blue as he cut across Camper Cliff's Sandslash. It fainted.

"I guess I can't beat justice…" Cliff said. I'd since learned not to listen to the ramblings of the trainers I didn't personally know.

After the battle though, Combusken's ball began violently shaking.

Opening it up, he was already glowing as an aura of fire surrounded him and blew away the sand raging around us in the air. Combusken grew much taller, his beak elongating and his arms becoming more muscular. The light faded and Blaziken roared.

Blaziken immediately lit his legs on fire and jumped, rapidly kicking the air over and over again, demonstrating his new Blaze Kick move.

Camper Cliff's eyes widened, then he ran away, sobbing at Blaziken's newfound power.

Further exploring caused my DexNav to beep. Activating my phone's app, it said a Trapinch was nearby, level 32, and it knew Mud Shot. Sneaking over to where I saw rustling in the sand. The Trapinch revealed itself. It was a male.

"Mightyena, Incinerate!"

Mightyena shot a small ball of fire at the Trapinch. It immediately responded with sand tomb. Mightyena yelped as he sunk into the sand below him. "Incinerate, again!" Mightyena shot the ball of fire at Trapinch, causing him to stagger.

"Now or Never!" I tossed a Pokeball. It bounced off the Trapinch's head and sucked him inside. It wobbled three times and clicked, signaling a successful catch.

On the way back to Mauville, I found a white feather on the ground. It was a feather from the skirt of a Kirlia, according to the Pokedex.

"Mightyena, I need help."

The black canine Pokemon materialized from his ball. I held the feather out for him to smell.

"Is it Wally?" Mightyena barked. "Good. I've got a mission for you, Mightyena."

Buying an attachment from the store in Mauville, I wrapped it around Mightyena's leg with the Velcro and put the note inside. I then sent Mightyena off on the scent trail left by Wally's Kirlia.

I withdrew Trapinch from the PC and prepared to set off for Petalburg City. Backtracking to Lavaridge took me another hour to complete.

I must have great timing, because just as I did, May exited the Gym.

"So, how was Flannery?"

"She was…interesting. Anyway, the next Gym you need to meet is your Dad's, right?"

"Unfortunately."

"Why is that a bad thing?"

"Well, actually, it's not, cuz now I can finally beat him."

"I get the distinct impression that your relationship with him isn't the best."

"It's not. So, you want to go back to Petalburg City with me?"

"Sure."

We hit the road.

The next day found us at Petalburg City's entrance.

"Hey Brendan, do you mind if I watch your battle with Norman?"

"Sure, but you'll have to call ahead of time so you can get past all the other Gym trainers."

"Yeah, ok."

The lobby was connected to two doors leading to the "Speed Room" on the left and the "Accuracy Room" on the right.

After choosing to enter the Accuracy Room, I was met by an ace trainer.

"Hee hee hee…" she giggled. "This is the Accuracy room."

"I'm not blind."

"And neither are my Pokemon! It's pretty nasty when every attack lands without fail."

"It's pretty nasty hearing my Dad doing it through my bedroom wall. Even worse when my Mom's not home."

"I…What?"

"Can we just get this over with?"

"Uh…Delcatty!" Ace Trainer Mary sent out her feline Pokemon.

"Trapinch!" I thought for a moment. "Mud Shot!" Then I noticed Mary giving Delcatty X accuracy. It was a combat medicine that supposedly instantly made your Pokemon more accurate with attacks, but it wasted a turn.

"Wait, you actually use those things?"

"Yeah, we all do."

A swirling vortex of mud slammed into Delcatty. It flew back a few feet, tearing into the wooden floor.

"Again!"

Before Trapinch could move, Delcatty purred affectionately. This hypnotized Trapinch, who still managed to repeat his mud shot attack.

Delcatty responded by slapping him twice.

Trapinch amazingly still hit her with Mud Shot for the third time.

"One more!"

Delcatty slapped Trapinch four times, but stood his ground. His attack failed though. So I pulled out a super potion and sprayed it on Trapinch's face, healing some of the red markings left by Delcatty's slaps. Delcatty used sing. Trapinch stayed awake despite it.

"One more Mud Shot!"

"Double Slap!" Delcatty pulled off two slaps until Trapinch slammed her with Mud Shot.

Delcatty fainted good and proper.

"You were a cut above me-"

"Yeah whatever. Moving on."

"The defense room is on the left, and the Recovery Room is on the right. Whichever way you go, your Pokemon's attack power will be on trail."

"Thanks."

The defense room had another female ace trainer in it.

"The higher my Pokemon's defense, the more reckless I can be with my attacks."

"Sound logic. Trapinch!"

"Linoone!"

"Ok, so are you gonna use one of those steroids?"

"Combat medicine, and yes." Lori gave her Linoone X defense, increasing his defensive power.

"Well then, Mud Shot!" I commanded. Instead though, Trapinch jumped in the air, and then slammed himself back down, sending a shockwave through the entire building. Linoone had trouble standing upright, and a shock sent her on her back.

She did manage to stand again, to her credit, but didn't look so good. Neither did Lori's facial expression.

"Wha…I don't…Huh?"

"Heh. So proud of your defensive strength, but then a stronger opponent comes along, and one Earthquake attack later you can't string together a coherent sentence. Seems Dad rubbed off on you."

"Ggrrrr. Norman warned us you wouldn't exactly be polite. Linoone's just fine!"

"Trapinch seems to disagree. Earthquake!"

"Mud Sport!" Linoone dug her paws into the ground and flung up mud around both Pokemon.

"And that was supposed to help you, how?"

"Mud Sport weakens ground types!"

"No, it weakens electric types!"

"Come again?"

"If you insist." Trapinch jumped and landed, another Earthquake rattling the walls. Linoone fainted.

"I think you've taught me a very important lesson here."

"Seems Dad was negligent on teaching any of you anything."

"The Strength room is on the left, and the one hit K-O room is on the right. Both of them have trainers who are offensively skilled."

"The One-hit K-O room, huh? Sounds interesting."

Entering this room to see only one door remaining on the left side of the trainer.

"Listen, I'm not gonna take it easy just because you're our leader's kid."

"I never asked you for any favors, dumbass. Trapinch!"

"I'll show you how horrible it is for a Pokemon to take a critical hit! Zangoose!" Ace Trainer Berke shouted.

He immediately used a dire hit, which is one of those combat medicines that increase the critical hit capabilities of his pokemon. Critical hits deal twice the normal damage of attacks.

"Earthquake!" Trapinch jumped and slammed into the ground. The shockwaves hit hard and Zangoose couldn't even stand properly after that one. It visibly swayed on it's feet.

"Grrrrr!" Berke growled. "Let's finish this in one move like always! Crush Claw!"

Needless to say it wasn't a critical hit.

"What the…?"

"Aaaaaaaaand you failed. Let's remove him from his position, shall we? Crunch."

Trapinch repeatedly chomped on Zangoose's ear. It collapsed.

"Ah…Ga…I…" Berke stampered.

"I assume that last door leads to dear old Daddy?"

"Aaaaaghaggahaaagghh"

"Good talk."

"Hm… So you did get four Gym badges."

"What, did you doubt my skills as a trainer?"

"Then, as I promised, we will have a Pokemon Battle."

"Oh, cut the crap, you never promised me anything, ever. Now then, I need five badges, and judging from how weak your one hit K-O guy was, it shouldn't be to hard."

"I…Wait, you defeated Berke?"

"Only took two hits. Ironically."

"Agh… That shouldn't have happened." He frowned, then clenched his fists. "Kid, you really stick in my craw."

I noticed May waving at me from the stands on the side of large, almost gymnasium like room. I waved back and mouthed to her, 'Watch this.' She grinned.

"Alright, Slaking, let's do this!" He launched a Poke ball, and from it appeared a large ape like pokemon with brown skin and a tan colored, fat belly. It promptly laid on it's side and snored through its large pink nostrils.

"Blaziken, let's take him down a peg!"

I thought for a moment, then noticed Blaziken looking at me over his shoulder. I raised one eyebrow. Blaziken smiled. I grinned right back.

"Alright, Blaziken." I paused, so everything went silent. Then I smirked. " _Drop 'em_."

Blaziken's legs went aflame. He dashed, jumped into the air, then slammed one clawed foot into Slaking's stomach. The lazy pokemon was sent sprawling.

Norman's confident grin melted.

"Uh…"

Slaking had fainted.

"Wha…"

"Heh, look at you big shot," I taunted him. "One Pokemon already down."

"Shut him up, Vigoroth!"

Vigoroth was the pre-evolved state of Slaking, and was the evolved form of Slakoth.

I couldn't help but remember that one I met in Petalburg woods.

"Blaze Kick." Blaziken's feet still ablaze, he viciously knocked Vigoroth for six. The Pokemon fainted.

Dad was speechless once more.

"Maybe if you'd spent less time with prostitutes and more time training, you wouldn't be in this mess."

"I train my Pokemon!"

"You had them imported. Though, I'll admit that you're stronger than Wally's dad."

"Wally's dad was never a trainer!"

"Exactly."

"Slaking!" Norman practically screamed.

"Blaziken, eighty-six 'em." Blaziken grinned. Using his flames as added propulsion, Blaziken dashed forward and spin kicked Slaking not once, but twice in the gut.

He fainted.

Norman simply recalled his fainted pokemon and went silent.

"You know, it's surprising how good of a training ground the Mauville Food Court is, you should try it sometime."

"I… I can't believe it…" he muttered. "I lost to… Brendan?"

"You sure did, Diddy Kong."

"…ugh, fine. Take your stupid badge and TM." He handed me the basic badge and a grey disc with the words TM 67: Retaliate printed in it.

"Your Pokemon will be able to use the move Surf outside of battle." Norman mumbled. He then turned and walked into the Gym's back room.

May ran up to me and gave me a hug and Blaziken a high five.

"Blaza!" Blaziken happily said.

 **Author's note: those of you who have played the ORAS games should have already noticed this, but I'm taking some liberties by not mentioning a lot of the game's aspects, including Super training, Pokemon Aime, the fossils, and searching for certain pokemon. Seriously, took me a few hours for the DexNav to find a level 32 Trapinch. Most of them in that stupid desert are 20-22. And Mud Shot is and egg move, so most of them don't know it.**

 **Anyway, I'm only really writing this story according to its core storyline. To be honest, I hate how sugarcoated everything is in Pokemon, and I pretty much wish it was more of a teenager, young adult sort of thing in terms of dialogue. Really, they don't have to curse, but at least have some people die or something. I like the games because of how they designed the legendary Pokemon and how their powers worked. Hoenn and Kalos are now my favorite two regions.**

 **Anyway, enough of my rambling, but please let me know what you think about that subject in the reviews. Favorites and follows are not required, but happily welcomed.**


	19. Vibrava and the twin dragons

May and I exited the Gym shortly thereafter.

"That was surprisingly easy." She reflected.

"Yeah, and your starter Pokemon isn't even fully evolved."

"I know right? Maybe being defeated by his own son shook him up a bit."

"Heh."

May's long hair seemed to bounce a little as she walked. Petalburg City was incredibly peaceful this time of year. Gentle wind took away some of the tree's leaves, and the few small ponds within the city's limits were rippling and shifting. Wasn't there something in Petalburg I had to do or something?

"Oh, Brendan, is that you?" A middle-aged man approached, whom I recognized as Wally's father. Oh right, I helped Wally start his journey. He should have gotten Treecko from Professor Birch's lab and have gotten long gone by now.

"Have you seen my son, Wally?" His eyebrows arched in concern.

"Wait, isn't Wally that green haired boy?" May asked.

"Yeah, I helped him catch a Ralts before I left."

"Yes, and my brother told me that they've disappeared from Verdanturf town! Have you seen him?"

"No sir, I'm afraid not, but if I see him, I'll tell someone."

"Oh, you are a saint! Please, take this as my token of appreciation!" he handed me a blue disc with HM 3: Surf printed on it in black lettering. "Thanks again." He turned and went the way he came.

"…"

"…"

"May, can you keep a secret?"

"You know where he is, don't you?"

After getting our teams healed properly, May and I parted ways in Oldale town, once I told her to keep an eye out for Wally, or Mightyena. May had to return home to show her dad, the professor, how far she'd progressed on the Pokedex.

Masquerain chirped above me. "Hey buddy, long time no see!" I called. Masquerain happily landed on my shoulder, allowing me to scratch his head. I recalled him to his Pokeball and inserted it into the PC for now.

I set off north on route 103. Then making my way north to Mauville city, I stayed the night in one of the hotels, then set off for Route 118 the next day.

Crawdaunt was just big enough to carry me on his back with surf, but he was definitely strong enough. Once on the other side, I met a fisherman who I thought would battle me, but instead, he said, "A good rod is good, wouldn't you say?"

"Ask your wife."

Completely ignoring my input, he said, "Hmm! We're of identical minds! Take this good rod!"

He handed me a fishing pole. It was like the old rod I got in Dewford, except it wasn't a piece of shit, and looked like it was actually professionally made.

Taking out what few trainers there were on the beach proved to be easy as always for Trapinch to accomplish.

I then headed to where the grass overtook the sand of the beach. As soon as I did, none other than Steven Stone greeted me. He was looking swagger as ever in his tux, though I personally think that would be a living hell to travel in.

"Why, hello. We met in Granite Cave didn't we?"

"Yes, I'm-"

"No, I remember it. It's Brendan."

"Huh, you prove to be one of the smarter people I know."

"It's good to see that your journey is going well."

"If the dirt on my shorts has anything to show, yes. Yet your suit looks clean as always."

"Thanks. You know, Brendan… In this vast world there are many kinds of Pokemon. They come in many types. Should you raise different types? Or will you only raise Pokemon of a certain type you like? I wonder what you think, as a trainer?"

"Oh, yes, that reminds me for whatever reason, there's something I need you to see." I slung my bag off from my shoulders and produced from it the round stone I found.

It fit in the palm of my hand as I handed it to Steven. He took it and examined it.

"I'm sure it's a mega stone, but I don't know what species it belongs to."

"Ah yes, Brendan, this is Manectite. It allows Manectric to Mega Evolve."

"Manectric?"

"Yes. Where did you find this?"

"Near the south end of the Cycling road."

"I see. About a year ago, I saw strange lights coming down from the sky while I was at the peak of Mt. Chimney. They landed all over Hoenn, one very close to my home in Mossdeep City. Closer inspection found that it was a mega stone, belonging to the Metagross species. Metagrossite. I've been searching for these stones for quite some time now, but haven't found them so far, besides the one in Mossdeep."

"You want to know what's ironic about this?"

"What would that be?"

"I have a Manectric on my team."

"Do you, now? And how strong is your bond with your Manectric, I wonder?"

"I've had him on my team for a while now, so I'd say pretty strong."

Our conversation was cut short by a roar coming from the sky just above the beach. Steven and I turned our attention to a red and white dragon pokemon with jet like wings hovering in the air, looking right at us.

"Hyahhn!" It called.

"It's Latias!" Steven exclaimed. "Latias!"

"Hyaahh!"

"Do you… want us to soar somewhere with you?"

"Oh, wow, that's cool."

"Indeed. Brendan, come with me. I believe she has sought us out for help. If that's the case, let's go!" Steven proclaimed as we climbed on her back. She was surprisingly strong, and then her speed surprised me as well, as she rocketed into the air. I could see most of Hoenn from where we were. I could even see the distant silhouette of Sinnoh on the eastern horizon. Latias descended, quickly ending the mystical display, and dropped us off on a small island.

"Thank you Latias." Steven took a look around. "I don't know what it is…" he murmured, "Not unease, not fear…But there is something… unsettling… It is an odd feeling as though I am walking in a dream or illusion. I once heard an odd fable. It was said that the two Pokemon that live here guard some secret about that great form of evolution: mega evolution."

"What a coincidence, since that was exactly what we were discussing on 118." I said.

"Could it be some dangerous element is here because of that? Come, we should be going."

"Sure."

We followed a path that cut around some trees and continued into some thicker brush.

"Those whose memories fade seek to carve them in their hearts…" A deep, resonating male voice called in my head.

"Uh… Hey, Steven, did you hear that too?"

"Hear what?"

"Some voice in my head…"

"What did it sound like?"

"It was a male voice, sounded like thunder."

"Huh…" We entered a large circular grassy field overlooking a bunch of waterfalls falling into a basin and rushing out to sea. The flowing sound of the water gave the place a mystical feel, as if the wind wasn't enough to do that on it's own.

At the other end of the field, at the ridge of the cliff, hovered a dragon that looked almost identical to Latias, except he was blue whereas she was red.

"Latios, he's beautiful…" Steven whispered.

"Ok, whoa, you're starting to sound weird, man, stop that."

"Now, we can finally capture that drag-Oh?" A male voice sounded behind us.

We turned to find a Team Magma Grunt following a girl in a Team Magma outfit, but she had purple-dyed hair.

"Team Magma, is it?" Steven inquired. "So Latios noticed their coming, and that's why it called upon us."

"Please don't say noticed their coming, it sounds weird."

"I apologize."

"…Who are you?" The girl spoke in a soft, almost inaudible tone. "Hah?! M-Mistress Courtney! That pipsqueak over there is the one I heard keeps getting in our way! But that dashingly handsome, enviably unruffled looking fellow there with him…"

"Stop it."

"Yes…For the time being…get away from me."

"Steven, who is she talking to?" I asked.

"I don't know."

"The Pokemon behind you…" Courtney spoke again. "It's mega stone…No more…no less. That is what…That's what we of Team Magma seek."

"Oh, hear that? She finally put together a full coherent sentence."

"How about it? Will you get away from me…or not?"

"Ok, look little miss weird, you can't have the mega stone."

"And why is that? You don't know our plan."

"I don't like you."

"Oh, come now…"

"Stop it!"

"That's right! I'll take part in this battle as well. Let's protect the legendary pokemon from these beasts together!"

"Wait, they're legen-"

"Metang!" Steven called.

"Well then…" Courtney gave us the creepiest smile ever. "…Deleting…"

"Stop it! Trapinch!"

"Koffing!" The grunt shouted.

Courtney sent out a Camerupt.

"Trapinch, Rock Tomb!"

"Metang, Zen Head butt!" Metang reeled back and knocked Koffing out with an enforced head butt to the face.

"Curse…" Courtney whispered. Camerupt muttered something and he glowed slightly with a purple light. His attack and defensive power increased, cutting his speed.

Finally Trapinch pulled up some rocks and hurled them at Camerupt. That attack was meant for Koffing…but since Camerupt was a ground type, it didn't do much. I can't use Earthquake, since that would probably hurt Metang as well.

"Trapinch, Crunch!"

"Zen head-butt!" Metang slammed his body into Camerupt.

Trapinch rapidly chomped Camerupt's ear.

"Take down." Camerupt charged Metang, but was to slow as Metang simply levitated up into the air above it.

"Crunch!"

"Zen head-butt!" Metang repeated his own attack, as did Trapinch.

Camerupt finally fainted.

So Trapinch seemingly decided that was a good time to start glowing. His head got considerably smaller, and wings split from his backside. His normally orange skin had changed to tan and his beady black eyes now had green irises.

Vibrava gave a resonant call and happily landed on my shoulder, now that he could fly.

"Impressive, Brendan. Now then," Steven turned his attention to the Team Magma operatives.

The grunt was too stunned to speak.

"As anticipated." Courtney spoke. "Unanticipated." Her gaze met mine. "You. Target lock… completed. Commencing Experiment. You…Forever…Aha…"

"Will you please, stop that?"

"Returning home…" She turned and walked away.

The grunt soon followed out of panic.

"Good work, Brendan. Congratulations, Vibrava."

The dragon type on my shoulder chirped happily.

"Ah, that's right. We should first heal up the Pokemon who fought on our behalf, shouldn't we?"

"We should."

Steven healed both of our teams and I recalled Vibrava to his Pokeball.

"You performed spectacularly. We were able to protect both this wondrous Pokemon and its Mega Stone, thanks to you."

"It was all Vibrava doing that."

"Hm. Indeed." Steven smiled.

Latios called out.

"And it looks as though Latios may have recognized you as a trainer worthy of his trust. Look," Steven gestured to the dragon. "He's trying to offer you his allegiance. I believe he is trying to show that he wants to go with you on your journey."

"Wait, a legendary Pokemon wants to go with me?"

"Go on, hold out your hand to it."

"Oh man, this is so-" Instead of meeting my hand, Latios kinetically brought a poke ball out of my bag. It hovered over Latios until he dropped it on himself. He was sucked inside. The ball dropped and clicked without even wobbling.

"-awesome."

"You'll have to select a Pokemon to send back to your PC box for him to join your team."

"Not so awesome. Let's see here… Swellow, you don't mind, do you? Just for a little while?"

I connected the bird's Poke ball to my pokedex, and it was changed into energy that was then sent back to the PC through the Internet.

Somehow.

"It seems Latios is also carrying a piece of Latiosite with him." Steven noticed. "Here, to make use of that, you should take this from me. Steven pulled two necklaces and a wrist band-like object from his pocket.

"With the Mega Bracelet that I just gave you and the Mega Stones a Pokemon may hold, your Pokemon will be able to achieve a powerful boost, quite unlike any usual form of evolution…"

"But only if we have a deep connection."

"Correct. You will be able to achieve Mega Evolution. I suggest you try it with Latios the next time you happen to have the chance in battle. Mega Evolution is a phenomenon shrouded in mystery…"

"Yeah, Yeah, Great. Latios! Manectric!"

I attached the Latiosite and the Manectite to their necklaces and put them around the Pokemon's shoulders.

Latios looked calm and collected as a Legendary should… and Manectric was howling and prancing around excitedly.

"Really, Manectric, you ought to calm yourself." A male voice in my head spoke.

"Whoa… Steven, did you hear that?"

"What? Latios?"

"Wait, that was him?"

"Yes. He is a Psychic type after all. Many legendary or Psychic types can speak telepathically. He only speaks to his friends, including us. Anyway, we should be heading back."

Steven rode on the back of Latias, as I rode on the back of Latios.


	20. Milotic and the Weather Institute

Route 118 was just as we left it.

I recalled Latios to his Pokeball.

"Thank you for your help, Brendan." Steven said.

Latias gave one last call.

"Perhaps she's trying to tell you to take care of her brother."

Latios nodded, then flew off in the direction of her island. There was a small pause before Steven spoke again. "In the end, you were a far greater help than I expected you might be.

"Never doubt me, Steven."

"I'll remember that. I expect you and your team will be able to best both route 119 ahead and even the Fortree Gym beyond that. I'll be curious to see how much stronger you might grow by the next time we meet. Until then, Brendan."

He left.

It didn't take Vibrava long to take care of the trainers on 118.

So, route 119 stretched north, a vast, mountainous route populated with jungle trees and foliage. I decided to take my time on this route, maybe do a little fishing.

"Pelipper, protect!"

"OH COME ON, DIPSHIT THAT'S THE THIRD F***ING TIME YOU USED THAT MOVE!"

Looking back on it, I wasn't exactly taking it easy on this particular person.

"Dragon Breath!" Vibrava shot a beam of purple-ish fire at Pelipper, whose force field blocked the attack completely, throwing little ashes everywhere.

"Rock Tomb, before he recovers!"

Vibrava, being just as angry as I was, hurled boulders at Pelipper. The rocks threw him to the ground where he promptly fainted.

"Urgh…" the bird keeper trainer disdained. "I crashed…"

"YEAH YA DID. FORK OVER THE MONEY, B****!"

Minutes later I cooled down, and continued racking up the prize money. I took a break to do some research on the Pokedex. Service out here wasn't the best, but there was a specific pokemon I wanted to catch. Reports say that during the day, these fish pokemon swim underneath the bridge overlooking the river on this route during the day and like to swim in between the rocks and water plants at night. I noticed a drop of water on my screen. I looked up to see that the sky had darkened with clouds, so I decided to set up camp.

The next day it was still raining as it usually did on this route, so I decided, screw it, keep going.

"You don't know who I am, do you?" A bug catcher asked me.

"No."

"Well, I don't know you either, so let's battle anyway! Beautifly!"

"Vibrava! Rock Tomb!" Vibrava hurled boulders at Beautifly, and knocked it out.

"Oh, uh…You're pretty strong aren't you?!"

"Yeah, sure."

I crossed the river on Crawdaunt's back and defeated a fisherman who, I kid you not, had three Carvanha. As if I don't see enough of them from Team Aqua. That part of the route was a dead end, so I went back across the river, and up the path. I feel like I need not bore you with the details of my other battles.

A building came into view. It was two stories tall, with mostly glass walls reinforced by steel.

Next to it was a wooden bridge guarded closely by three Team Aqua grunts.

The sign by the door said "Weather Institute."

Inside I went.

"Hello and welcome to the Weather Institute. There seems to be a disturbance on the second floor." The lady behind the desk said.

"Right, let me see."

I swapped Latios out for Swellow on the PC in the next room. Next, I snuck down the hallway, expecting to see a couple of grunts standing guard here somewhere.

When I did, I grabbed Vibrava's ball. The Grunt saw me. "Hey, the boss got interested in the research they got going on here, so git!"

As my mind quickly looked through my arsenal of snappy comebacks, a pitch black blur past me by. I looked and saw the grunt was unconscious with Mightyena standing over him, wagging his tail.

"Hey, boy! Its good to see you!" I hugged him. "Did you deliver the message?"

Mightyena barked happily. "Great, now let's get rid of these goons."

"Quit your meddling!" The next grunt said. "Mightyena?" Mightyena shot an Incinerate attack at him, lighting his shirt on fire. He screamed as his teammates tried to calm him down and put the fire out.

We strolled past them.

The second floor only had two grunts guarding it, and from my position, I could see a twenty-something year old girl in a revealing Team Aqua uniform had dark brown hair.

The first grunt immediately saw me.

"We are Team Aqua! We appear when something rare is found!"

"I doubt that's your full plan, but whatever, that's above your pay grade anyhow."

"I…uh…don't get…paid."

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" I laughed.

"Carvanha!"

"Shiftry!" Oh yeah. I never mentioned I found a leaf stone, gave to Nuzleaf, making him evolve into a Shiftry.

Did I mention he's level 40, and that Carvanha is only f***ing 28?

"Leaf Blade!"

Thanks to the magic power of the quick claw item, Shiftry moved first, extending a glowing green blade from his leafy hand and swiped Carvanha to the side. I could tell Carvanha had fainted without looking. I was right, as the grunt sighed, pulled out a Pokeball and recalled Carvanha. He then sent out his own Mightyena.

"Leaf Blade!" I called. Shiftry slashed that Mightyena across its chest. I felt a little bad for mine though.

"Sorry you had to see that," I whispered in the friendly Mightyena's ear.

He just shrugged. When I turned, the grunt was walking down the stairs, muttering something about jobs. Good thing I'm a fifteen year old out, on his own on a journey, so I don't have to worry about such things.

Anyway, I recalled Mightyena to his Pokeball, put him in the PC for now, and challenged the last grunt. This one was a girl.

"Huh? What's a kid doing here?" She asked me.

"I don't know, what are a bunch of pirate themed gangsters doing here?"

"Golbat!"

"Shiftry, Extrasensory!"

Shiftry focused and produced vibrating psychic waves of some sort that, as soon as they made contact with Golbat, threw it against the wall. It fainted immediately.

"Huh? I lost?"

"Yeah, ya did, now scram."

I turned just in time to see Zinnia finish off the Aqua girl's Sharpedo.

"Wait, Zinnia? How did you-"

"Window."

"Uh…"

The Team Aqua girl sighed. "It's bad enough to have Team Magma blunder about, but now there's you! What makes you want to sniff around in our business, anyway?"

"The keystone, Shelly. Hand it over!" Zinnia said.

"What keystone?" Shelly cried. "My boss is the one with a keystone, not me."

"Interesting. I'll make my way to Mt. Pyre and see him myself."

"Wait, how do you know about Mt. Pyre?"

"I've known for years."

"Hey, hate to break up the great cat fight here," I taunted them both. "But don't we all have more important business to attend to? Why are you even here, Shelly?"

"The Weather Institute is harboring a Pokemon that apparently has power over the weather! We need that!"

"I doubt that." Zinnia said.

"Excuse me?!"

"Castform has nothing to do with the Super-ancient Pokemon you're looking for. Well then…" Zinnia grinned, "I'll just have to go to Mt. Pyre myself." And she took off running.

"Oh no you don't!" Shelly took off after her.

"Yeah, think I'm gonna stay out of that one for now."

"Thank you so much, young man!" The scientist exclaimed.

"For what, all I did was take out the grunts. Set one on fire."

"Oh…uh, okay. Anyway, I still don't understand what Team Aqua might be up to."

"It's something having to do with an ancient Pokemon apparently."

"A super-ancient Pokemon?"

"You scientists are terrible at naming things." I remarked. "But yeah. There are carvings of them in Granite Cave."

"Those would be Groudon and Kyogre. In ancient times, Groudon caused droughts and dried up entire seas at a time, while Kyogre did just the opposite. It called on rainstorms and hurricanes, causing floods across the landmasses. Because of their opposing natures, they both constantly fought for more power to conquer the other." He looked towards the ceiling, as if looking into the past. "One time, a meteor hit the earth right on Hoenn's east coast. It contained a great amount of power, apparently, so Groudon and Kyogre were both drawn to it. When they saw each other, the Meteor's energy manifested itself through their anger, transforming both of them through a process like and yet unlike Mega Evolution. We call it Primal Reversion." He paused. "Their battle caused the forces of nature to become chaotic. The world and all it's inhabitants were nearly wiped out."

"How did the battle end? I mean, all the human and Pokemon are still here."

"We don't know, other than some outside force somehow overcame the two and they vanished, along with the meteor."

"How big was the meteor?"

"Bigger than Mt. Chimney." He answered.

"Did it erode away, possibly?"

"If that were true, fragments of the meteor would have been left behind. But there were no energy readings from the sea floor off of Hoenn's east coast."

I was stunned to say the least. How does a meteor the size of a volcano vanish?

"Thank you for your time. I'll be on my way."

"Of course."

Not wanting to draw attention to myself, I swapped Latios out with Swellow on the PC and set out again. It was raining outside, darkened clouds covering route 119. Luck with fishing tended to be better during the rain, so I heard, so crossed the bridge and got down to the river. Having Crawdaunt surf me across the waves, I got my old fishing rod out, wanting to use the old thing as much as I could before it either broke or became to worn down to be used anymore.

Seriously, the old rod is a piece of crap.

A couple of unconscious Magikarps later, I finally found what I was looking for. I finally reeled in a fish Pokemon with shoddy tan skin and ragged blue fins. Feebas wasn't exactly popular with Pokemon trainers, but it evolved into what's usually known as one of the most beautiful Pokemon known to mankind.

I sent out Swellow.

I have to admit; you don't want to hear the battles I have when I'm trying to catch Pokemon like this. Since Feebas was way under leveled compared to my team, I had to really take it easy on it, confusing it with supersonic just so it would hurt itself and then spam Double Team until it's health was low enough for me to catch it.

Although it did surprise me when it used Dragon Pulse.

F***ing Dragon Pulse. How.

So I caught it and that was that. Swellow suffered a couple burns from Dragon Pulse, but still.

So in order to evolve a Feebas, according to the Pokedex, it either has to be traded with a prism scale, or leveled up while its "Beauty" stat is maxed out. And the only way to do that is to give it blue poke blocks.

Huh, so that Poke block kit I got from Lisia will actually serve some purpose.

I had plenty of Poke blocks already made from extra berries. My berry case can only hold so many.

So after giving the low-leveled fish Pokemon all of the blue candies I had, I decided to keep going.

"Brendan!" May called.

"Yo, how's it going?"

"Great!" She paused. "That's a… unique fashion statement." She said, regarding my Mega bracelet.

I grinned. "What, this? Oh, I'm wearing because it's functional, not fashionable."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Battle me to find out!" I grinned proudly. "Unless you're scared."

May had a competitive streak, "In your dreams, ass hat. You're on. I'm not about to lose to you and some accessory!"

I smiled, grabbing Vibrava's Pokeball.

"Go, Shroomish!"

"Vibrava! Struggle Bug!"

Vibrava glowed in a neon green light, and rushed Shroomish, battering in different directions.

"Giga Drain!" Shroomish grabbed onto Vibrava and sucked some energy out of him. Grass type attacks don't do much to dragons.

"Struggle Bug."

Shroomish fainted.

"Oh, don't get all arrogant on me. Marshtomp, Bide!"

Once Marshtomp emerged, she immediately started storing up energy.

"Dragon breath!" Vibrava shot a stream of purple fire at Marshtomp who just stood there and took it without much of a challenge.

"Hmmm…Dragon Breath." Marshtomp withstood it.

"Again!" Marshtomp moved first, tackling Vibrava. Hard.

Vibrava fainted.

"Impressive, May, I have to admit. Swellow! Aerial Ace."

Swellow flew straight up into the air, then dive bombed Marshtomp and slashed his beak across her belly. Marshtomp fainted.

"Huh. I though Marshtomp would last me the battle."

"Mention one time that worked."

"It works all the time!"

"With me!"

"Oh… well…Slugma!"

"That's enough, Swellow, return! Manectric!"

There was a pause.

"So…" I grinned. "Ready to see what this Bracelet is really for?"

"Yeah, sure."

"You see that gemstone on Manectric's necklace?"

"Yeah?"

"You see this gemstone on my Bracelet?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you think happens when I touch it?"

"Well I don't-"

"Boop!"

I pressed my two fingers to my keystone and it glowed with a golden light. Manectric's Mega Stone glowed yellow, as it's light met mine.

Manectric's body became shrouded in the same light as his body became even sleeker and his mane extended down his back. Lightning arched off of his body and the light shattered.

Mega Manectric howled.

May was speechless.

"Now then." I grinned. "Thunder Fang."

Manectric's fangs electrified and he bit down on Slugma, the electricity protecting him from getting burned.

Slugma fainted.

"Wow. Manectric, you're stronger than ever now, aren't you?" May gave me prize money. "Well, Brendan, since you beat me yet again, I'll give you a reward."

"Is it you?"

May blushed. "N-no. Here." She handed me a silver disc with HM 2: Fly printed on it. "If you use Fly, your Pokemon will carry you back to anywhere you've been before."

"Routes included?"

"Yeah."

"Cool."

"You have to have the Badge from the Fortree Gym for it to work. Until next time, Brendan, and next time, I won't lose."

She dashed off ahead of me, but I noticed the ghost of a smile on her face.

After I finished battling Ninja Boy Yasu, Feebas' Poke ball started glowing.

Opening it up, the fish Pokemon grew into a serpentine Pokemon, with long tendrils emerging from the top it's head. Its long, smooth body grew a tail ending in rainbow colored scales.

Milotic cried out a long, mystical cry.

 **Author's note: I will be gone the next three weeks, but I will delete this note when I'm back.**

 **Anyway, writing this story is difficult, because I'm playing through both OR and AS to write it. Milotic is level sixteen now whereas everyone else is almost forty, so I'm going to have to fly back to some route to re-battle some trainers for EXP. Also, I forgot to mention Brendan catches a Skarmory on route 113. I don't want Fly taking up one of Swellow's move slots, but I already forgot to mention Skarmory. So he now has a Skarmory. Or I could have him go back down Route 119 and catch a Tropius. IDK. Anyways, I should also mention I don't participate in online battling, so I don't judge Pokemon based on stats or anything like that. I judge them on physical design and backstory. I'm aware that Manectric is one of the worst Mega Evolutions. So is Garchomp. Apparently. I know Flygon isn't commonly used due to its double weakness to ice. Swellow and Milotic are good, though, Swellow for speed and Milotic for defense. So there's that. See you all when I get back.**


	21. Steven and the invisible Kecleon

Fortree City's buildings were literally built on the strong limbs of the jungle trees. The people here became very physically fit from climbing up and down ladders and basically being closer to nature. So despite being not as modern as Mauville or Slateport, this city produced many super models. These include Elesa, Claire, Grant, and others. I spent that night in the Pokemon Center.

Milotic still needed more training, so I skipped to route 120 to do training. But on my way out of Fortree's east exit, I spotted Steven Stone looking towards the east landscape and muttered out loud, "I see, so that Pokemon is also on route 120…" And he departed in that direction.

I decided to follow him, since he is an important person because, yeah.

I got a little side tracked going into a cave in the middle of the lake, because I figured Steven would go into caves because he's a rock collector, right? But, fortunately I picked up TM 11: Sunny Day.

So I had to backtrack up to the bridge going over the small lake. The area was enveloped in fog, so I couldn't see the other side of the bridge, but I could clearly see Steven, staring at something. He noticed my approach.

"Hey, Steven."

"Hm? Brendan? So we meet again."

"S'uuuuup."

"How has Mega Evolution been treating you?"

"Helped me put down a Team Aqua attack at the weather institute. Speaking of which, you went that way, didn't you? Why didn't you notice?"

"They must have attacked after I had gone through that area."

"Hm. By the way, did you happen to see a girl with short black hair run through here at all?"

"No, why?"

I told him about Zinnia and her Altaria and Garchomp.

"I see. I haven't heard anything so far, though, not since that Team Magma incident on the Dragon's island. Though I did meet friends of yours, May and Wally, I believe their names were." He said.

"Ah, yes, the cute girl and the green haired introvert."

"A bit hypocritical coming from a boy with white hair." Steven teased.

"It's a hat." I smirked and removed the hat, letting my short brown hair show. Steven eyes widened for a split second. He cleared his throat.

"Ahem, yes, well… I'm pleased to inform you that May has included Latias in her quest."

"Really?" I was wondering Latias was going to do without her brother around.

"Anyway, Brendan, I've stopped here because there's something blocking the road."

"I don't see anything in front of us."

"It's invisible."

"I…I'm sorry, what?" I looked at him disbelievingly.

"There's something here you can't see. Now, if I were to use this device on the invisible obstacle…" He reached into his seemingly infinitely spaced pocket and produced a pair of binoculars. "No, no… Rather than describing it, I should just show you. That would be more entertaining."

"Probably not as entertaining as May's dresser drawers, but okay."

Steven apparently decided to ignore that as he handed me the binoculars. "Are you prepared for a battle?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Good. In that case… I want you to take this. They're called the Devon Scope."

I looked through them and saw a Kecleon standing in the middle of the road. It saw me and croaked at me, then changed his color. I removed the binoculars to find he had become visible to the naked eye.

He lunged.

"Milotic! Aqua Ring!" Milotic drew water from the lake beneath us and surrounded herself in a veil of it.

Kecleon used Pysbeam, shooting a weird stream of pink light at Milotic, who barely seemed to take damage. Aqua Ring healed what little of a scrape that left.

"Bulldoze!" Milotic surged across the bridge. It was slightly difficult for me to keep my footing on the shaky bridge. Milotic rammed Kecleon head on. Once it recovered, however, it's normally green skin changed to dark brown.

"What is it doing?"

"That's its ability, Color Change! When it gets hit by an attack, it's type changes to that attack's type!" Kecleon then changed color to a darker green than normal. "It used camouflage and changed to grass type!"

"So it's a grass type now. Dragon Pulse!" Milotic opened her mouth to produce a heavy beam of red and blue light and shot it at Kecleon. Its color went to indigo.

"Again!" Milotic shot the laser again and Kecleon fainted.

"Just as I expected." Steven remarked. "That's a Devon Scope. It's a fantastic piece of tech that lets you see Pokemon in hiding. Consider it a gift from me. Take it."

"You know, a lot of people have been giving me things lately."

"And one more thing…"

Steven reached into his other pocket and produced a red stone with yellow and tan markings on it. "You have a Blaziken, don't you?"

"Yeah."

"This stone is Blazikenite. Blaziken's mega stone." Steven smiled. "I found it a few years ago by Mt. Chimney. It ranks as one of my top five favorite stones. I have no doubt that your Pokemon will like it, too."

"Oh, yeah! Blaziken will love this!"

Steven smiled. "You know, Brendan…"

"Hm?"

"I like to see trainers and Pokemon who are trying their best. That's why I like you so much. Hm?" His gaze locked onto something in my bag's side pocket.

"It seemed as though something just… shone for a moment in your bag. I'm sure I sensed the power of some kind of stone…"

"Dude, you got weird senses."

"Is it a meteorite? No it couldn't be…" He paused. "Let's meet again someday."

And on that happy note, he departed down route 120.

After getting the Blazikenite outfitted to Blaziken, I decided to get the Fortree Gym out of the way.

 **Hey guys, I know this chapter was short, but I got to stop there for today. Anyways, I was trying to get people's friend codes for my friend safaris in XY, but I had trouble getting them. But then I remembered, "Oh, wait, I have a Pokemon Story going! I could totally get friend codes there!"**

 **So if you want, leave your friend codes in the reviews and I can register you and you can register me. Hell, register each other down there; make friends! I'm looking for Safaris with Frogadier or Pyroar in them specifically.**

 **But hey, anyone is welcome!**

 **My code is 1650-1213-1717.**

 **I'll try to register as many of you as I can, but in the meantime, I've got to get back to leveling up Milotic!**


	22. Heading to the Ghost Mountain

After revealing another Kecleon in front of the gym and finding TM 86: Grass Knot that someone apparently dropped behind the Gym building, I finally entered.

The Gym was built over a large pit with wooden platforms leading up to the Gym leader's platform, keeping a wind blowing through the air with fans.

"Behold the elegant style of bird Pokemon!"

"Oh so that's this Gym's type. Milotic!"

"Swellow!"

"Use Surf!" Milotic, using moisture from the air, gathered it together in the form of a wave, sent it at Swellow.

Swellow was faster, dashing into the air and started darting around multiple times, increasing his evasiveness with Double Team. The wave still hit hard though.

"Aerial Ace!" Swellow slashed Milotic hard with his beak. Milotic didn't seem to take much damage.

"Dragon Pulse!" Milotic gathered blue and red light together and shot it at Swellow. Swellow fainted.

"Skarmory!"

"Surf!" Milotic sent another wave crashing down on Skarmory. Skarmory then sent metal spikes at Milotic. She took no damage, but the spikes would probably prevent me from sending in more Pokemon now.

"Aqua Ring!" Milotic surrounded herself in a veil of water. It restored some health to her.

"Spikes!" Skarmory threw down more spikes.

"Milotic, Surf!" Milotic rode another wave down on Skarmory. Skarmory fainted.

I received my prize money and moved on. The rest of the trainers went by with relative ease. Most of them bragged about their graceful bird Pokemon, before their feathers were scattered on the battlefield by Milotic.

"I was taught by Winona personally!" One girl boasted, "I can't lose!"

She lost.

Finally, I reached the leader on her platform. "I am Winona." She spoke. "I am the Leader of the Fortree Pokemon Gym." She faced into the wind, letting her scarf float freely.

"So I see."

"However grueling the battle, we will triumph with grace…"

She turned and faced me. She was a beautiful girl, with lavender hair, wearing an aviator's jacket and hat.

"Witness the elegant choreography of my bird Pokemon and me!"

She sent out a Swellow.

"Milotic! Surf!"

Swellow used double team, darting around multiple times very quickly. Milotic called up her wave and crashed it down on Swellow. Swellow fainted.

"Altaria! Cotton Guard!"

"Vibrava! Dragon Breath!"

Vibrava blew a steady stream of fire at Altaria, who quickly folded her fluffy wings together. The fire hit the shield, causing a miniature explosion. When the dust cleared, Altaria still had a little fight left.

"Rock Tomb!"

"Roost!" Altaria rested her wings on the ground, as a thin veil of light covered her body, restoring health. Vibrava hurled rocks at Altaria, who seemed not to lose too much power.

"Hyper Beam!" Vibrava gathered energy in front of his mouth and fired it at Altaria. The following explosion made me think Altaria was done for a minute until the dust was blown away by the wind, revealing Altaria using Roost once more.

"Now, Dragon Breath!" Winona commanded. Altaria released her own stream of fire at Vibrava.

"Okay, first, why are you copying me, second, Hyper Beam!" Vibrava gathered energy and fired a massive beam of light at Altaria. Altaria fainted.

"Skarmory! Steel Wing!" Winona's Skarmory's wings glowed silver as she rammed Vibrava with them.

Vibrava regained his composure rather quickly, however.

"Can you muster up another Hyper Beam?" Vibrava nodded, gathering energy once more and firing it. Skarmory barely took much damage.

"Steel Wing!" Skarmory landed two hits this time, and Vibrava fainted.

I grit my teeth. "Milotic! Dragon Pulse!"

Milotic fired her own stream of purple light at Skarmory.

"Sand Attack!" Skarmory kicked up dust from the ground into Milotic's face. Milotic flinched at first, and then grinned.

"What?" Winona gasped. "That's Milotic's ability. Competitive. Whenever one of her stats are lowered, Milotic's Special Attack stat goes up. Now then, Dragon Pulse!"

Milotic's beam hit home.

"Aerial Ace!" Skarmory slashed Milotic hard.

"Recover!" Milotic healed herself.

Winona took the opportunity to heal Skarmory with a full restore potion.

"Dragon Pulse!" Milotic didn't miss.

"Aerial Ace!" Neither did Skarmory.

You know what, at this point it was just repeated Dragon Pulse and Aerial Ace, so this part gets redundant. Skarmory fainted, so I switched Milotic out for Manectric.

"Pelipper!" Winona's final bird pokemon arrived.

"Alright, let's get this over with." I tapped the keystone on my Bracelet.

Streams of light met the ones coming from Manectric's stone, and he Mega Evolved.

"Charge Beam!" Manectric shot a straight bolt of lightning. Pelipper fainted in one blow.

"Never have I seen a trainer command Pokemon with more grace than I…" Winona commented once the battle was over.

"Yeah, not like I was trying to make it a dance recital or whatever." I replied.

She handed over the prize money.

"Well, I recognize your talent."

"A lot of women do."

"And I present you with this Gym Badge." She handed me a badge that resembled a feather. "With the Feather Badge, you will be able to use the HM move Fly outside of battle. And this… This is a gift from me." She handed me a silver disc. TM 19: Roost. "Roost…" Winona said, "With this move, the user can restore its HP by up to half its max HP by landing on the ground and resting it's injured body. However, this leaves the user vulnerable to ground type attacks during that turn."

"Question."

"Hm?"

"Do Gym leaders always hand out TMs after they lose, or am I special?"

"We hand them out."

"I feel loved. Thanks for your time, Winona. I must be going."

"You won against me… I know you'll keep aiming higher and higher!" She smiled.

"You know it. Later!" I exited the Fortree City Gym. One trip to the Pokemon Center later, I was walking through Fortree's east exit once more.

What I'm guessing was Mt. Pyre loomed in the distance, it's slopes seemingly turned grey in the fog that surrounded it.

The trainers on this route proved to be no match for Milotic as always. Seriously, people, you are not a challenge. Anyway, Milotic was starting to catch up to the rest of my team, whose levels were in the forties, while Milotic was thirty-two. On a side note, the Pokedex says Vibrava's a level away from evolving.

So I was feeling pretty good. The other trainers weren't but I was, and it's the thought that counts, right?

Much like Route 119, Route 120 was a jungle route, and rain trickled down at a slow pace.

Seriously, I was getting sick of the trainers out here; they were mere nuisances at this point. Not wanting to battle, I was considering avoiding them while working my way through this hedge maze on the route when a bug catcher stopped me.

"…Wanna Battle?"

"Yeah, sure!"

He sent out a Masquerain.

"Milotic!"

Masquerain's Intimidate ability quickly took effect. But then Milotic's body glowed red for a second.

"Uh…" The bug catcher raised an eyebrow, "Wanna explain what that was?"

"That my friend, was Competitive. When one of Milotic's stats gets lowered, her Special Attack increases! Surf!"

Using the raindrops as a source of water, Milotic summoned a wave and crashed it down on Masquerain's head. Masquerain instantly fainted.

"Aw, really, man? That's it?" I complained.

"Uh, yeah… I, uh…"

"Silence, fool."

The rest of the route went smoothly.

As I neared the Safari Zone, whatever the hell that was, I spotted two Team Aqua grunts.

"Let's hurry and get to Mt. Pyre!" One grunt said.

"Let's make this fast, I want to get home to my girlfriend soon."

"You have a girlfriend?"

"Yeah."

The other grunt snorted, "No you don't." And they headed south.

Well, that's in no way convenient for the plot of some weird story, so I followed them.


	23. Flygon on Mt Pyre

Mt. Pyre's elevation was only about ¾ of Mt. Chimney's. Plus, the mountain's inside was hollowed out with cobblestone chambers, built like crypts where many-deceased Pokemon were laid to rest. I didn't think there were going to be trainers here, but unfortunately, I was wrong.

Or maybe it was fortunate, because that meant more training for Milotic. Although, one thing kept bothering me: How the hell did these trainers not have to battle Team Aqua? Did they just go around? Did these trainers just let them through? Lazy fools, get to work!

But my day got even better after my battle with a Hex Maniac and a Fairy Girl. Since it was a double battle, Vibrava had to participate as well. Once the battle was over, Vibrava began to glow, the light piercing the dim torch light of the crypts. Vibrava grew much larger, his four wings merging into two. His tail grew much longer.

When the light faded, Flygon cried out proudly about his latest evolution.

Many defeated trainers later, I arrived at the exterior of the mountain.

Fog blocked out the view of the surrounding area. So I simply had no choice to look upwards to the peak. The Trek upwards found me TM 61: Will-O-Wisp.

Well, I certainly caught the attention of the Team Aqua grunts. I spotted Zinnia facing off with Archie and some buff dude next to him

"Hey, kid, what are you doing here?"

"I, **pant** , will not, **pant** let you, **pant** get away **pant** with this!"

I straightened my back.

"I thought something was a bit noisy, and who is it but the usual scamp! Sorry, scampo, but I'm afraid I just don't have time to play with you right now. The Blue Orb that's long been enshrined here at Mt. Pyre… It belongs to Team Aqua now!" Archie sneered down at me.

"Hello to you too, black beard. Oh, Moe Howard's here too." I smirked at her short black hair. "Who's the steroid user?" I acknowledged the large muscular guy behind him.

"Oh, him? This is my other admin, Matt. Now then, Matt?"

"You got it bro!" The beef head grinned, "Get 'm boys!"

The grunts charged.

I just sighed.

Once Flygon had made sure all three grunts were unconscious on the ground, I faced Archie. Zinnia had just taken down Matt's Sharpedo with her Altaria.

""Matt left, Zinnia in hot pursuit.

"Ay, me, what a disaster." The old man at the shrine spoke.

"The red and blue orb must never be separated." His wife stated. "They belong together…Mmm."

She turned to me. "Here. Team Magma was here earlier, and they managed to take the red orb before Team Aqua outnumbered them. One of their members dropped this."

She handed me a red colored badge-like object. It had the Team Magma insignia on it, a large red letter M.

"So, you're trusting me to go after these guys? Just 'cuz you lost your marbles?" I grinned.

The old lady blinked.

"Sorry."

 **Hey guys, sorry that was a short one.**

 **I'd like to acknowledge a review from a reader. He said that the story isn't as much of a parody as it was.**

 **He's right.**

 **I think one mistake I made was telling this from Brendan's first person view. But it's too late to change it, so I'll do what I can to make this more entertaining for you guys as we progress.**


	24. Reunion in Lilycove City

Lilycove City was a small city on the coastline of Hoenn, nestled into the rocks of the shore. It's ocean view and salty aroma was-

"Oh, my Arceus, this is BORING."

And the peace was disturbed.

Ok, so yeah, the city was pretty. Speaking of pretty…

"Heeey! Brendan!" May approached me on Main Street. "Don't tell me… Are you here for the shopping too, Brendan?"

"Not really."

"Are you sure? We're right in front of the famous Lilycove Department Store, after all! When I saw you, I figured maybe you'd come here to do some shopping, same as me."

"You women and shopping, seriously. What's in there that's worth my money?"

"TMs."

"Sweet. Anyway, how have you been doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing, just… how's your journey?"

"I'm surprised you actually care."

"Oh, I don't. Just looking for conversation filler."

May sighed. "I've caught tons of different Pokemon, for your information. I've been raising them well, too."

"Hm…"

"Aughhh! You think I'm lying, don't you!"

"You never stuck me as the bluffing type."

"That little hum totally said you think I'm lying!"

"You women and your overreacting… I'm never getting married…"

"I think the bigger question here is whether you're raising your Pokemon right, not me!"

"You think so?"

"S-so that settles it! Let's have a battle! Let's test my team and see how they stack up against your passion for Pokemon, Brendan!"

"I thought it was my team you wanted to test, but whatever." I shrugged and grinned. "Let's do this."

May smiled as well. "Go, Swellow!"

"Oh, you have a Swellow as well? Hm. Milotic!"

May's Swellow cawed its battle cry.

Milotic let out a mystical call.

"Alright, let's start with Dragon Pulse!" Milotic fired her blast and hit Swellow head on.

Swellow barely managed to get back into the air. "Aerial Ace!" May called.

Swellow slashed Milotic across her chest. Milotic barely flinched.

"W-what?" May gasped. Milotic grinned.

"Heh. See, that's the thing I like about Milotic. It's not just beautiful; it's one of the most defensive Pokemon out there. And you saw how badly Dragon Pulse hit; so don't underestimate her Special Attack either. Dragon Pulse!"

Milotic fired another beam and hit home. Swellow collapsed.

"Magcargo!"

"Really? Surf!" The ocean environment provided a lot of moisture in the air for Milotic to form a wave and crash it down on Magcargo's head.

May sighed. "Swampert!"

"Since I won that round, I get to switch out, Milotic, return! Shiftry!"

May cringed.

"Leaf Storm!" Shiftry called leaves from the nearby trees, the ground, and his own body. He hurled the storm at Swampert.

"Protect!" May called. Swampert called up an energy shield, blocking the attack.

"Again!"

Shiftry hurled another whirlwind of razor sharp leaves at Swampert, who instantly knocked out.

"Breloom!" May sent out her last pokemon.

"Shiftry, use Extrasensory!" To be honest, I still have no idea how this Psychic type move worked, it wasn't even really visible, but it was some sort of Psychic wave that hit Breloom, who couldn't withstand it.

May said nothing as she returned Breloom and I returned Shiftry to his Pokeball.

There was a short silence between us until May spoke again. "Ahhh, this reminds me of the battle I had with you on Route 103."

"Oh yeah, that." I said quickly. "Listen, have you seen Team Aqua guys go through here?"

"Yeah, there's a couple here in the city just kind of wondering around, it seems."

"Is that so? Their base must be around here somewhere…"

May narrowed her eyes at me. "Are you seriously getting involved with those guys again?"

I told her what happened at Mt. Pyre.

"Oh, yes, Kyogre and Groudon. Have you heard the legend?"

"Not in detail."

"Let's go to the Pokemon Center, I'll tell you there."

((( )))

"In prehistoric times, Kyogre was the embodiment of the oceans, and Groudon was the embodiment of the land. Kyogre summoned great rainstorms and tidal waves, but Groudon summoned extreme sunlight and heat to evaporate entire lakes and rivers. Because of their opposing natures, the two of them battled frequently. Then, a meteor approached the planet, carrying great energy with it. Both of the ancient Pokemon thirsted for that power, so they met each other once more and continued to fight even more viscously than before. What little is known about the rest of the legend states the meteor crashed into the eastern part of Hoenn, carving out the islands and the sea in that area."

May traced out the eastern part of the Hoenn map on the wall with her finger.

"No one knows if either Groudon or Kyogre got their hands on that power they so desperately wanted, but historians and scientists estimate that evidently neither of them did. After all, if Groudon won, all of the oceans would have dried up and if Kyogre won, the world would have been covered in floodwaters. But the end of the battle was never stated in what little remains of the cave paintings. The rest wore away."

"I see. So Team Aqua said something about increasing the oceans, from what I remember, and Team Magma is trying to expand the landmass."

"They're possibly trying to find the ancient Pokemon and use their powers."

"And what about Primal Reversion?"

"Gesundheit."

"No, Primal Reversion." I put more emphasis on my words.

"I don't even know what that is."

"The weather institute guys apparently might of heard more of the story than you. They said that both of them got their hands on that power and underwent a new transformation. They became Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre." I said.

May's eyes widened in wonder, "Did they say how it ended?"

"All they said was that their battle was interrupted and they vanished along with the meteor. Scientists have even scanned the ocean floor for traces of the Meteor's nuclear energy but found nothing. And that rock was bigger than Mt. Chimney."

"What? But how does a Meteor that big vanish?"

"I don't know, go find the ancient pokemon and ask them."

May sighed. "Well, the thing is, no one even knows if the legend is true or not, so there might not have even been a meteor. Heck, Groudon and Kyogre might not even exist."

"So you're saying that might have been a cave painting of a Tyranitar and a Magikarp fighting each other?"

"Maybe. Anyway, Brendan, I'm actually thinking it's about time I went back to Littleroot, though. I've caught a lot of different Pokemon, and my Pokedex is pretty complete, so I think I should go show it to my dad."

"Alright, if that's what you want. Please don't tell my mom I'm tailing gang members. As much Vodka as she drinks, she surprisingly still cares."

"'Kay. Besides that, Brendan, what are you going to do? You going to collect all the Gym Badges and take on the Pokemon League Challenge?"

"Pretty much."

May sighed, but grinned. "Typical Brendan! Then while you're collecting your Badges, I guess I'll go and complete my Pokedex! I guess I'll be off then!"

She turned to leave, "Oh, and Brendan?"

"Yeah?"

"Be cautious."

"Because you care?"

I swear May blushed, "Because I care, yes. See you around."

And she took off.


	25. Learning the Legend

So after getting TM 44: Rest from some guy in Lilycove, and TM 99: Dazzling Gleam from a girl on route 123, I backtracked through Mauville and down to Slateport City.

I immediately approached the harbor. Mr. Stern, (I swear, these name puns) was getting interviewed over the progress and completion of the submarine. They were just getting wrapped up (No pun intended) as I arrived.

"Yes, indeed. And that is why we intend to move ahead with our expedition." Captain Stern explained.

"That's wonderful, Captain Stern! Thank you for taking the time from your busy schedule to talk to us. We hope we can interview you again with news of more discoveries!" The news reporters left on that note.

Captain Stern must have recognized me as he walked over to me. "Whew… That was my first time being filmed for TV."

Unfortunately, I had heard that same line from my mom through the wall of my bedroom.

"What a nerve-racking experience!" He turned to me, "You're looking well. Glad to see it. We made a huge discovery on our latest expedition to the seafloor. We found an underwater cavern on route 128-and we think it may be the den of a super-ancient Pokemon long thought to have been extinct."

"Would it's name happen to be Kyogre?"

"Uh…"

"Ahhh…Ahhh… Testing, testing. One, two, three…OK." A voice filled the air as if coming in through an intercom of some sort.

"I hope you're listening out there… Captain Stern! We of Team Aqua will now be assuming control of your lovely submarine!"

"Who's there?" Stern exclaimed.

"That would be Davy Jones. Hey, Archie! I got a joke for you! What's a pirate's favorite movie?"

Silence.

"One that's rated RRRRRR!"

One guy in the crowd laughed.

"**** you, kid. Anyway, You'll contribute to our great plan of returning everything to the beginning…I hope you appreciate this great honor! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Just before the intercom went out I could hear in the background: "Hey, boss, I just got his joke!"

"Shut up, Turner."

And the static went out.

"Did you hear that? It's like someone is using a megaphone…But where is it coming from?"

"Probably the harbor."

"It came from the harbor!" Stern gasped.

"Yeah… I just… Ugh."

"Our submarine! They took it!"

"Really?"

"Young man! I'm sorry, but… Please come with me!"

"Yeah sure, you should drag a kid into this mess." I sighed. "Whatever."

So Archie and Shelly were standing on the threshold of the actual Harbor on the inside of the building.

"Those thugs… They're the same lot who tried to take the Devon Parts at the museum…"

"Yep. Good times."

We approached, with Stern standing behind me.

Archie turned to me. "Impossible! You actually followed us all the way from Mt. Pyre?"

"I have a fast bike."

"Grah-hah! You got me! I bow to your persistence and love of justice! Bwahahahahahaha!"

"When you say bow, you mean the boat part?"

"It's a pity, so it is, but we're well past the time when you and your best efforts could turn the tide."

"Dude."

"We'll add a few last touches to this submarine, and we'll be all set to bust open the Seafloor Cavern where that great Pokemon is sleeping. Our plans to return everything to the beginning…"

I couldn't help but imagine Archie ramming the submarine into a rock wall repeatedly. Then I remembered Shelly was there. Oh. Ohohohoho…Archie's been ramming walls for longer than this apparently.

"…They're as good as complete! But I know you gotta do what you gotta do, scamp. I'm not gonna tell ya to quit chasing us… Follow us all the way to our hideout in Lilycove, if that's what your honor demands."

"Thanks for that critical info."

"Oh, don't worry, I'm an adult, I know what I'm doing…"

"Do you?" Stern asked.

"…That info won't matter when our plan is completed anyway."

"Now then… Shelly?"

"Oh right, the prostitute's here."

She glared at me. "Got it." She turned to the grunts standing at their side. "You guys! Keep that spoiled brat busy until the submarine takes off."

"Aye aye!"

"Ma'am!"

"Let's go. Archie…"

"Got it. We'll see you there then! My little scamp adversary! Grahahahah! Bwahahahahaha!"

"Hey kid, we're Team Aqua, and we-"

"Milotic, Surf."

FWOOOOOOSH.

"M-modding?" Stern said outside five minutes later.

"That's what the grunts told me in the interrogation room."

"Those criminals…"

"WHAT HAPPENED?" Zinnia shouted. Her eyes landed on me. "You! What the **** did I miss?"

"Well, Team Aqua just took off in the good Captain Stern's Submarine Explorer 1."

Stern gasped. "They can't be after the super ancient Pokemon that slumbers at the bottom of the sea, could they!?"

Zinnia deadpanned.

"Just ignore him. Anyway, I interrogated two of their grunts and they said they're taking the Submarine to their base in Lilycove, and after they hang their black flag on it, they'll set out to the Seafloor Cavern on route 128."

"And what did you do with the grunts?"

"Not important."

"I disagree."

"Look, we have the info. Lets go. You seem intent on stopping them, so let's work together!"

"I don't think you understand the full situation here!"

"I doubt you do either!"

"I know more about the legends than you!"

 _"It's true."_ Latios suddenly spoke in my head.

 _"Oh, now you wake up."_ I thought back. _"You legendries take awful long naps."_

"Alright little miss dragon girl, fine. You don't want to work with me."

"Young ones, I hate to ask to much of you, but please. Someone has to get to their hideout in Lilycove and stop them! But I've got no chance alone!"

"Yeah, your arthritis shows."

"I can at least get you as far as Lilycove, where their hideout is… Do you think you and your Pokemon could put a stop to them and save my sub from being used for evil? Please!"

"Fine."

"Thank you! We'll launch at once!"

"Wait, on what?" I asked.

"My yacht!"

"Huh. Zinnia, you coming along?"

"I told you, we're not working together!"

"Yeah, but what other opportunities will you have to ride a yacht?"

"…"

"Clever," Latios remarked.

Lilycove was as peaceful as ever when we arrived, save for the Team Aqua grunts seemingly more jumpy than ever.

Zinnia took off right away.

"Brendan, please go after those thugs who stole my sub and stop them. I'll be heading back to the shipyard in Slateport to deal with the aftermath of all this."

"Yes sir." I gave a casual salute and hopped off.

First things first, I dialed up May on my Pokenav.

"Hi, Brendan-"

"May, I'm in Lilycove. Get up here, cuz shit just got real."

I hung up and dialed Wally.

"Hey, man, are you anywhere near Lilycove City right now?"

"Yeah, in the department store right now. Why?"

Riding on the back of Milotic was actually kinda fun as we surfed into the front entrance of the Team Aqua base.

Their insignia was displayed on a large blue cloth hung over their entrance. Waterfalls fell on either side of the door and vines lined the walls of the cavern.

"W-who was that girl…" One grunt was crying in the corner.

"Oh wow, looks like Zinnia can do emotional damage too. Impressive. Aaaaand he's gone fetal position."

So I continued down that corridor to find a glowing panel.

"Huh, what does this dooOOOOOOOOO!" I suddenly found myself in another room with two more grunts.

"Trippy."

"Aiyi! Suspicious character spotted!" one grunt exclaimed and challenged me.

About fifteen minutes later, I found myself at what I assume was Matt's room, because there was a punching bag in the corner. Laying on the side of the bed was a disc. TM 97: Dark Pulse.

Then after having to solve a puzzle with the teleportation pads like I was in some crappy RPG, I think I found Archie's room. On the nightstand next to the bed, I saw a Pokeball. Well to be more accurate, the top was not the usual red, but it was a purple color with two red gemstone-looking things on either side. Over the button in the middle, was a white M. I picked up the Master Ball. Gotta hand it to the pirates, they must have paid a lot of money for this. Oh, who am I kidding, they stole it. There was also a gold nugget sitting there, so I confiscated that too.

I backtracked and found the harbor room. Zinnia was currently battling five grunts at once, so I ran past her, laughing.

I could see the submarine decorated with a Sharpedo motif. Matt stood guard at the threshold of the Harbor.

"Oh, I knew you'd come!"

"Couldn't wait for me, so you popped a couple more steroids, huh? Hope you don't end up complaining that your captain's quarters are to big."

"Eh…You're the first punk to sneak into our hideout and make it this far! I expected nothing less from a crumb like you!"

"There probably haven't been others."

"But I've got some bad news for you! We already completely finished upgrading the ship! Look at that drill!"

He gestured at a large steel drill attached to the front of the sub.

"As long as we've got that thing, we could KO the seal over the seafloor cavern with one punch! My bro Archie's in the ship! So come at me! If you take me out fast, you might be able to catch up to him! But before you try… We need to settle once and for all who's stronger, you and your sorry Pokemon, or me and my not-so-sorry Pokemon!"

"OK BITCH LETS GET SOMETHING STRAIGHT. MY TEAM IS MUCH STRONGER THAN YOURS. YOUR TEAM COULDN'T HOPE TO BEAT MINE IN A THOUSAND YEARS. INSULT ME ALL YOU WANT BUT DON'T EVER INSULT MY TEAM!"

I detached one Pokeball from my belt.

"MANECTRIC!"

"NOW I'M EXCITED! SHARPEDO!"

"Alright, let's do this, Manectric!" I tapped the keystone on my wrist. Bolts of light extended from it and the Manectite hanging from Manectric's neck. The lights met and filled the whole cavern. When it cleared, Manectric's main had grown, his body sleeker than before. Electricity crackled around him.

"Charge Beam!" Manectric gathered all that lightning and fired it in one straight beam at Sharpedo. As electricity coursed through Sharpedo's body, I noticed the sub sinking into the water.

Sharpedo fainted. "Oho!" Matt grinned as he returned his injured Pokemon to it's ball. "That hurt just about exactly as much as I figured!"

He continued to laugh. "Bro! It's all on you now!" Matt lowered his voice. "I have only one hope now. That my bro finished what he set out to do… That's all."

"Touching."

"Brendan!" Zinnia came up behind me. "Have they taken off?"

"Yeah!" I called back. "We're too late! Archie's headed for the seafloor cavern!"

Back in Lilycove, as I was healing my Pokemon, I got a call from Steven on my Pokenav.

"Kind of in a hurry, so this better be really damn good."

"Meet me in Meteor Falls. It's worth your time, trust me." And he hung up. So I got Latios out of the PC, taught him HM 2 Fly, and quickly flew to Fallarbor town.

Once I entered Meteor Falls' cavern, I spotted Steven talking to an elderly woman.

"Brendan, this is Mrs. Levia."

"Ma'am, I'm Brendan, it's a pleasure. However, I am short on time, so if we could make this fast…"

"I know full well of the situation, young man. You've heard of the legend of the Super-Ancient Pokemon?"

"Yes."

"Well, this part of the Legend I'm about to tell you is known only to my people, the Draconids, once a tribe that inhabited all of Hoenn in ancient times. They were the witnesses of Kyogre and Groudon's titanic battle."

"Yes, I know the story. A Meteor containing great power fell to earth; Groudon and Kyogre fought over that power like two little kids over a crayon."

"Indeed, except their fight was so intense it carved out much of Hoenn's landscape. That reminds me, though, have you by any chance run into my grand-daughter, Zinnia?"

"Multiple times."

"Hmm." The old lady furrowed her brows. "When Groudon and Kyogre met, their opposing natures forced them to engage each other in a furious battle. Their bodies absorbed the energy of the Meteor and their anger amplified it, transforming them into Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre."

"Primal Reversion."

"Indeed. When their battle began destroying their homes, the Draconid people prayed to any power that may have been listening to their messages of panic. That's when Jirachi responded."

"The wish granter?"

"Yes. She heard their wish and called upon…him."

"Him?"

"The third Super-Ancient Pokemon. Rayquaza. He was a Dragon of great power with a long, serpentine body, his skin shimmered with an emerald green light. He broke the meteor into pieces and devoured them, gaining that energy for himself. The Draconid tribe praised him as a savior. His bond with them channeled into the meteor's tangible energy forced Rayquaza into a transformation of his own. He underwent the world's first Mega Evolution."

"He was the first to achieve that, huh?" Steven asked.

"Yes, he was. The legend says, he descended angrily from the storm clouds, casting lightning bolts with his claws, thunder rolled when he roared. He easily defeated both of the Primal Reversed Pokemon, and having deprived them of their Primal power, he sealed them away. He buried Groudon inside of Mt. Chimney, and cast Kyogre into the depths of the sea. His twin children, the dragons Latios and Latias, took pieces of the meteor that remained and molded them into the blue orb and the red orb, respectively. They gave the orbs to the Draconid tribe and ascended into the sky with their father. They haven't been seen since. However, the Draconid people didn't stop praising him there. They constructed a tower, called the Sky Pillar, meant for Rayquaza to rest upon when not flying around the world. Very few people know of the Sky Pillar or Rayquaza's existence today. However, Zinnia, my grand-daughter, believes that if she can manipulate Team Magma and Team Aqua to revive Groudon and Kyogre once more, than she'll be able to summon Rayquaza, bring out his Mega Evolution, defeat Groudon and Kyogre, and be seen as the savior and most powerful trainer in the Hoenn region."

"So this Rayquaza is the savior of Hoenn…"

"Possibly the world." Steven added.

"And Zinnia thinks she can control his power."

"Rayquaza is said only to respond to worthy people." Mrs. Levia stated, "As much as I'd like to believe otherwise, I know Zinnia is not that person. She fails to recognize the full scale of those three Pokemon's power. If the Super-Ancient Pokemon are revived, they may rampage and bring great destruction. Nature will be unbalanced. Lives will be claimed."

"That will be a problem. Team Aqua has the means to find Kyogre in that submarine they stole. We can only hope Team Magma doesn't find Groudon. That way, we may only have to deal with Kyogre. I'll bet that, despite how strong he is, if enough strong Trainers battle him, he can be defeated." I stated.

"It may be possible," Mrs. Levia wondered, "But it would be a long and arduous fight. Even Mega Evolution can only do so much against the likes of Kyogre."

"At least without a meteor he can't activate his Primal Reversion." Steven pointed out. "So he'll be weaker!"

"I'm afraid you're mistaken, child."

"How so?"

"Have you heard the phrase _history repeats itself_? Another Meteor approaches."

"Wait, WHAT?" Steven gasped.

"So then, we will need Rayquaza's help. Where is the Sky Pillar?" I asked.

"It's on an island on route 130, just outside of Pacifildog town, where I live. The residents of that town are descendants of Draconids as well." Mrs. Levia replied.

"Ok, so now all we can hope for is that Team Magma doesn't find Groudon, right?"

As if on cue, an earthquake ravaged the chamber.

"Oh, come on!" I yelled.

"Fret not child, I don't sense Groudon's power yet, nor Kyogre's. They have not awakened yet, but they are close. They stir as the orbs draw closer to them."

"Alright, so I have to go find Team Magma's base. Should be on Mt. Chimney somewhere."

"Brendan, we could also go after Team Aqua, if you use this." He handed me a disc with HM 6: Dive printed on it. "But it only works in the field if you badge from Mossdeep City's gym. And in order to use dive, you'll need a diving suit, and I think I have one in my house in Mossdeep."

"Alright." I turned to Mrs. Levia, "How much time do you think we have?"

"I'd say about twenty four hours."

"Then we must make haste!" Steven exclaimed. "Brendan, I will fly over to Mossdeep and see what arrangements I can make."

"Good. I'll head for Mt. Chimney and see if I can stop Team Magma."

Steven departed and I exited the cave.

As I ran down the road towards Rustboro city, I set a twenty-four hour timer on my PokeNav. The countdown to doomsday had begun.


	26. Groudon Awakens

_"So, Rayquaza is your father?"_

 _"Indeed,"_ Latios answered. _"Where do you think we obtained our Mega Evolution capabilities? My sister and I sealed the power of the Super-Ancient Pokemon in those orbs and bestowed them to mankind. They're the ones who built the shrine on our island, the shrine on Mt. Pyre, and the Sky Pillar itself."_

 _"Have you been to the Sky Pillar?"_

 _"Once or twice. It being our father's resting place, my sister and I are allowed there whenever we please."_

I hear Mt. Chimney is beautiful this time of year.

"The cable car is ready to leave now. Would you like to board it?"

"Yes please."

So you know the same old story. I go to a place, end up beating all the trainers there, and move on. This gets real redundant real quick every time. But hey, free training ground for Milotic, right?

After studying (read: looking at it for more than five seconds) the Magma insignia thingy, I found it was actually a remote, like to open a garage door or something.

So after wondering down the Jagged Pass, I just kept clicking the button until I heard a rumble, and a section of rock opened to reveal a cave.

Heh, they're shutting themselves off even more than fanfiction writers. Heh. Hehehehehehehehehehe.

Anyway, Team Magma was taking living under a rock to the extreme.

Their home base tunneled into the mountain, lit by electrical wires on the ceiling of the cave.

The first grunt confronted me just around the first turn.

"Hey, what's a kid doing in our base?! I don't care how handsome you are, you're going down!" He said.

"Excuse me, have you heard of our lord and savior, Arceus?" I joked.

I made it through the first floor, making my way past sophisticated looking machinery and computers.

Oh sure, you can afford that, but you can't afford carpet on your floors.

Finally, I found a staircase that went straight down to the fourth floor. After walking through the archway to the next chamber, I was stopped by Tabitha.

"Hehehe! You made it this far, so I'll tell you! That's right! Up ahead, Groudon is sleeping! Maxie went to Groudon just seconds ago! It's going to awaken real soon! Hehe! Hehehe!"

"Oh hey, you've come down since the last time I saw you."

"Wait, when did I last see you?"

"Mt. Chimney."

"I don't remember that."

"You were… Oh, **** it, Milotic!"

"Numel!"

"Use Bulldoze!" Milotic rampaged on over and knocked Numel around.

Numel instantly fainted.

"Tch!" Tabitha cringed. He returned his Numel to its poke ball. "Fine! Mightyena, show him!"

"Dragon Pulse!"

The poor Dark-type didn't even get five seconds as Milotic fired her energy beam and knocked it out. When the dust cleared, Tabitha growled again, returned Mightyena, and sent out a Zubat.

Sigh.

"Dragon Pulse!"

Zubat's down as well.

Tabitha deadpanned and sent out Camerupt.

"Surf!" Milotic somehow created a wave out of thin air, and crashed it down on Camerupt, who promptly keeled over as well.

"…"

"So…"

"Taken down again... Hehe..." he smiled. "...And while you wasted time with me, Maxie should have awakened Groudon..." He grinned, then stepped aside, giving an "After you!" gesture with his arm.

"Maxie… What the hell did you do?"

"Hm?" He turned towards me. "Fuhahaha! Just as I predicted."

He stood before a very large lake of lava. In the middle of it sat the silhouette of a large beast, it's features indistinguishable in the smoke billowing from the magma.

Maxie laughed. "Even I, the great Maxie, have found myself wishing for something I cannot justify. And the illogical desire that I harbored was to have you present here at this moment."

"Neat."

"Hahaha... And now that fool's wish has come true. Fantastic! Nothing could please me more! I suppose I should make introductions... I present to you my incomparable partner, who will assist Team Magma in driving humanity forward to its next level!" He gestured to the large silhouette of what I assumed to be a pokemon, sitting in the pool of lava. Its shadow overlooked even us, and we were standing about thirty feet away on the solid rock.

"The super-ancient Pokémon... Groudon! Behold! This great form slumbering in defiance of even the broiling lava surrounding it!"

Oh, so that's what that is.

"So long have I waited for this day... Immeasurably long! This foolish world has held back humanity's progress out of misguided idealism regarding the coexistence of humans and Pokémon. But this ancient creature can bring that to its rightful end, creating a new land upon which humanity may stride freely forward. Now that I have at last obtained the power of Primal Groudon **!** " He adjusted his glasses.

"And now, you are the final obstacle remaining between me and my goals. It behooves me to use every tool at my disposal to eliminate you. Indeed! Even Mega Evolution! Do not delude yourself that you and your Pokémon are the only ones capable of it. I must apologize for making you wait through our encounters at Mt. Chimney and Mt. Pyre without treating you to this sight. Brace yourself for my ultimate attack! Fuhahaha! Mightyena!"

"Flygon! Dragon Rush!" Flygon flew up into the air above us, then dive bombed Mightyena. Mightyena avoided it though.

"Scary Face!" Mightyena bared his fangs and glared at Flygon, distracting him long enough to lower his speed.

"Try again!" Mightyena dodged the attack again.

"Taunt!" Mightyena barked at Flygon, who angrily roared back.

"Earthquake!"

"Take Down!" Mightyena made a reckless charge at Flygon, tackling the dragon full on. The two of them toppled into the dirt.

Flygon dug his claws into the dirt and the ground began to shake. Rocks jutted out of the ground and hit Mightyena's body. It fainted.

"Weezing!" Maxie sent out his levitating pokemon.

"Hyper Beam!" Flygon charged a huge ball of light and fired it at Weezing, causing a huge explosion on impact. Weezing fainted instantly.

"Crobat, Acrobatics!" Maxie's Crobat rushed Flygon and attacked from all different angles at once.

"Flygon, Rock Tomb!" Flygon hurled rocks at Crobat. Crobat fainted.

"Fine. You leave me no choice then. Camerupt, dispose of this fool!"

"Flygon, switch! Blaziken, let's do this!"

"It's time, child."

"Well, let's see it!"

"Very well. Mega Evolution, activate now!" Maxie tapped the keystone on the side of his glasses, beams of light hitting Camerupt. Camerupt grew and changed. His fur became shaggier, and the volcanoes on his back merged into one.

"Blaziken, Mega Evolve!" I tapped the keystone on my wrist, and Blaziken changed as well. His horns pointed upwards and fire blazed from his fists. Blaziken roared loudly.

"Brave Bird!" Blaziken rushed Camerupt and rammed him as hard as he could. Camerupt fainted in one hit.

Even though he lost, Maxie calmly returned his Pokemon and smiled. "You've really done it, child. You've shown a power that exceeds that of the great Maxie."

"Didn't take much." Pretty soon.

Maxie threw his head back and laughed. "Splendid. Just splendid, my young trainer. No, it is more than that! I should be calling you my young hero! Believing that a world where Pokemon and mankind can coexist must be the best…"

"Sure." Any minute now.

"Rejecting my ideals without a second thought… Yes, watching you struggle desperately to halt the beginning of the world's end…You are undoubtedly a hero!"

"Yep." Here it comes.

"So noble… And yet… I will not yield, I will not bend! My ideals will not be shaken! My dream for the world's next step forward will never change! I will use the red orb to awaken Groudon, revert it to its Primal form, and put an end to all else!"

"Wait, Maxie!"

Tabitha came strolling on in.

"Buh?! Tabitha?!" Maxie sputtered.

"Oh, sup, Mary Jane."

"Do stop that now…Please! Maxie! You just don't understand!"

Oh yeah, lets throw some insubordination in here for a plot twist.

"What Groudon will bring about upon awakening is an end to the world!"

"Humph." Maxie sighed, "Did you think I had not noticed? That I somehow failed to realize you were after my spot?"

"Yeah, Tabitha, did you?"

"Stay out of this, child. Such a sad development indeed…"

"I think that every time I see you, Maxie." I said. "Can't wait to see how you f*** this up."

"Shut up. To be betrayed by my number two…"

I cracked up a little.

"In the end, there is only one being upon which I can depend!" He turned to Groudon, "Now, Groudon!" He shouted. "Absorb all of the power resting in this Red Orb, and reclaim yourself! Revert to your Primal form!"

Maxie cackled, "This is the time to take back the great evolution you lost in the past! Reclaim the possibility you once held!"

The Red Orb began to glow. A tremor shook the chamber. The lava around the sleeping Groudon began to roil.

Maxie held the Red Orb high in his hand. Tabitha fled.

Groudon's body began to twitch a little at first, then he shook more and more then, finally, his eyes opened.

Maxie grinned as I watched.

Groudon's eyes snapped open, he roared and looked around him for a moment, before looking at the ceiling of the cavern we were in. He lunged upwards, the lava surging up with him. He smashed through the ceiling and crawled out. He was no longer in sight, but I could hear his heavy footsteps on the surface above us.

"Gahahahahaha!" Maxie laughed. "At Last! AT LAST! I've finally done it! A new world for human evolution will be born! We shall stride forward!"

The walkie talkie on his belt vibrated. "Hm? A message from our members outside? What is it? … So the sun has turned merciless in it's heat. I should expect so. That is what I have long-No, what WE have long wished for. What?! The heat is greater than simulations predicted? It will be a risk for our own safety if it continues?!"

"Apparently."

"That cannot be…It has only just awoken… Where is it getting so much power from? And how much more will it gain when it does undergo Primal Reversion…"

He addressed the outside crew once more. "Continue your readings! Then report back!"

"Boss, Maxie, just what's happening on the surface?!" Tabitha cried.

"Well, Tabitha, in case you haven't noticed," I jerked one thumb at the panicky Maxie, "He done goofed."

"All that matters is… I have used the Red orb to awaken Groudon…" Maxie stated.

"Oh, nice recovery!" I said. "Oh it's not like you've doomed the human race or anything!"

"And now… I will transform this planet into a land ideal for human-"

I interrupted him by decking him in the face. Maxie staggered and fell to the ground.

"WAKE UP, DUMBASS! Groudon brings an 'end,' alright, but you don't get to choose what end! It's gonna drive every living thing on this planet to it's death! Now I have to go warn Archie not to make the same stupid mistake!"

"Maxie, Boss! We have to confirm the situation outside! There isn't a moment to spare!" Tabitha turned to me, "Child, you're coming, too! Hurry up!"

"Right!"

Once outside on the Jagged Pass, it became quite clear for all witnesses that the sun was bearing down on hard on everything. All clouds in the surrounding sky had long since evaporated. Groudon was making his way down the side of the volcano, his footsteps echoing through the valley.

"Oh, Arceus, Maxie. You done f***ed up." I said. I hopped on Flygon's back and we flew off.

 **Hey guys. If I could have a favor from you guys and have you post your friend codes, so I can get more friend safaris, I would be grateful. I feel a little greedy having to ask for friend codes, but screw it. My code as stated before is 1650-1213-1717. It only works if you register me as well.**


	27. Kyogre Awakens

"Heh heh heh… were you surprised?" asked Liz.

"Tee hee hee… were you surprised?" asked Tate.

"That there are two Gym Leaders?" They said simultaneously.

"No, not really, I read a magazine about you a while ago and your psychic powers."

"We're twins!" They exclaimed simultaneously.

"I can see that very clearly. Look, I don't want to be rude but I'm kind of in a hurry. Got criminals to punch in the face and a world to save."

"We can see that very clearly."

"You can read my mind, can't you? Quick, what am I thinking?"

"Maxie's a prick. Maxie's a prick. Maxie's a prick. Maxie's a prick." Tate replied.

"Sweet. Shall we battle?"

"Solrock!" Liz cried.

"Lunatone!" Tate exclaimed.

They sent out their pokemon.

"Swellow and Blaziken, let's do this! Steel Wing!"

Swellow's wings glowed sliver as he rammed them into Solrock, who quickly regained its composure.

"Blaze Kick!" Blaziken's feet went ablaze and he quickly kicked Lunatone in the side.

Neither Solrock or Lunatone seemed all that damaged.

"Rock Slide!" Liz commanded. Solrock hurled boulders from behind everyone and sent them down on my team. Blaziken avoided them by either jumping or breaking them with punches and kicks, but Sweelow wasn't as lucky. He went down in that one attack.

"Light Screen!" Lunatone pulled up a psychic barrier around itself and its partner Solrock.

"Shiftry! Let's do this! Leaf Storm!" Shiftry's quick claw item took effect, letting him move first. He calle dup a storm of sharp leaves and hurled it at Lunatone. It went down immediately.

"Blaze Kick!" Solrock dodged out of the way when Blaziken rushed at him feet first.

"Sunny Day!" Liz commanded. Solrock created a ball of light in front of it, then hurled it up in the air above us, acting like a miniature sun.

"If you insist, that'll just make Blaziken's fire attacks stronger!" Blaziken kicked Solrock in the face and it fainted.

"Our…" Tate began.

"Teamwork…" Liz finished. They handed over my prize money and congratulated me. "It can't be helped. You've won…" Liz said.

"…So take this in recognition!" Tate cheerily said. She handed me a badge in the shape of a heart.

"The Mind Badge enables pokemon to use the HM move called Dive!" Tate added.

"And take this, too!" Liz said. She handed me a slightly dark pink disc with TM4: Calm Mind printed on it.

"Calm Mind…" Liz began.

"…Comes from relaxing your mind and concentrating." Tate finished.

"Pokemon's Special Attack…"

"…Pokemon's Special Defense…"

"Will be heightened by this move!"

"It's a perfect move for Psychic-type Pokemon!"

"Looks like the bond between you and your Pokemon is far stronger then the bond we share as twins. But you'll go on from here to form even more bonds! That's the future I see for you!"

"There may be a harsh ordeal ahead for you and your Pokemon…But that's alright! You and your Pokemon aren't alone! You have each other! That's why we want you to face whatever troubles may come your way head-on and full of courage!"

"Yeah, I know, friendship, courage, rainbows, all that great stuff. I gotta go or the world will end. Bye!"

The harsh sunlight happening a few hundred miles away on Hoenn's west coast hadn't spread here just yet. As soon as I stepped outside however, I heard a loud explosion. People whipped around to face the direction it came from. I hurried to get a better view of the water, and saw a pillar of light arching into the sky from only about a mile south of Mossdeep Island.

"Wha-whaaa-whaaaaat?" One man gasped dramatically.

"A p-p-p-pillar of light!" one lady stammered, "Ap-p-p-peared from the sea!"

"That direction…Is that the direction of route 128?"

"Whoa, dude, seriously, dude!"

"Heeeeeeeeeh… This is the end of the world…" said one particularly chipper old man.

"Skitty, don't worry! Calm down!"

"Skiiiiidddddy!" It meowed back.

"Brendan!" Steven ran up to meet me, "I heard from little Liza and Tate that you visited their Gym. I was thinking of trying to catch you while you were in the area, but then this happened…We should talk."

"Aren't we?"

"Let's go to my place."

"You know what, I'm to stressed for jokes now."

Once inside his house…

"I suppose I should welcome you to my home. Please forgive the rather sparse décor…"

"That's not the first thing on my mind right now, considering it's a little humid outside, my Pokemon need to be healed and… oh yeah, the world's ending."

"Now where to begin…"

"You said you had a set of scuba gear, didn't you?"

"That pillar of light…" Steven said, not hearing me, "That huge earthquake… They are proof that a seal, which was long hidden deep undersea has been undone at last."

"Steven…"

"The Super- Ancient Pokemon that has been sealed deep underneath route 128 since ancient times…"

"Steven."

"It slept until now in the Seafloor Cavern."

"Steven!"

"Yes?"

"I need scuba gear if I'm gonna go down there!"

"Oh yes, forgive me, I'll get it right away…"

After getting that, some Max Potions from the Pokemart, and some random girl giving me TM 60: Quash, I taught Milotic Dive and took off down Route 128. I used the PokeNav to find my way down and found the spot where the beam had come from. We dived down and through a small opening that looked like it had been smashed through. We saw light coming from the top of the water so we went back up. Once I had the diving suit packed away and Milotic returned, I set about through the cave, taking out Team Aqua grunts along the way.

Also, Team Aqua apparently set up not-so-elaborate puzzles with a bunch of boulders, so Manectric had to push them out of the way with Strength.

Once I found my way down to the end of the cave, I found TM 26: Earthquake Team Aqua must have dropped because reasons. And TM 55: Scald. Holy Mew, these guys are clumsy shit stains!

Anyway, I found the last chamber, where Archie had just defeated Maxie.

"Urk…" Maxie cringed.

"Bwahahahahaha!" Archie laughed. "You're looking pretty pathetic now, aren't you? The great Maxie!"

"Ugh…A-Archie…you…"

"Hey," I walked in. "What sort of clusterf*** do we have here?"

"Bwahahahaha!" Archie laughed.

"Y-you…child…" Maxie reached out to me. Instead of helping him, I simply answered, "You know, with the type advantage Sharpedo has over Camerupt, I'm surprised your feud didn't end earlier."

I turned to Archie. "Alright, I'm assuming that huge shadow down there in the water is Kyogre, right?"

Behind Archie was a large pond of water, much of which was taken up by a large shadow, indicating something was down in the depths.

"Well if it isn't my little adversary!" Archie laughed again, "I can't even find the words to praise you as you deserve. Sometimes it's best to keep things simple."

"Thanks for the creepy uncle advise."

"All I'll say is you met my expectations, scamp!"

"K."

"And I'm not just talking about today, but everything you've done up until now. And that's why you'll get the honor of meeting my new partner before anyone else living in this world!" He turned and pointed at the shadow in the water.

"The Super-Ancient Pokemon… KYOGRE!"

He nodded at me. "How 'bout that?!"

"Neat."

"That beautiful form so long resting at peace within the azure sea!"

"Yup."

"I've been waiting so long for this day to come. We humans have disregarded both pokemon and nature both in our endless pursuit of our own desires and needs… and in the process, we've created this broken and disordered world…"

"Hey Maxie, tell me when he's done monologing."

"But this is the day when I finally obtain the power to return everything to how it once was-to return to our beginnings! Now that I can release the ancient power! The ancient power of Primal Kyogre! And now, you are the last token of resistance that's trying to ruin my day. I'll use everything my team and I have to crush you once and for all! Oh? And…Mega Evolution? Did ya think you and your Pokemon were the only ones who could use it?"

"No. Maxie has it. Zinnia has it. Probably a few others have it as well."

"Hm. Let me show you now what I never got the chance to before. This is the true power of my team! Mightyena!"

"Flygon! Dragon Rush!" Flygon dive bombed Mightyena and smashed him into the rocky floor. Mightyena fainted.

"Crobat!"

"Rock Tomb." Crobat didn't even get a chance to do something as Flygon crushed him with boulders.

"Muk!"

I sighed. "Earthquake." Flygon struck the ground, causing it to shake and Muk fainted.

"Fine then, scamp! Sharpedo!"

"Switch out, Manectric!"

Archie grabbed the miniature gold trident hanging from his neck and tapped it, laughing. I tapped my keystone as well. Sharpedo's body became covered in tan colored scar marks and his skin became rougher.

Manectric's mane extended down his back.

"Charge Beam!" Manectric was much faster as he zapped Sharpedo, who fainted in one hit.

"Like I figured…" Archie just grinned.

"Aha…Aha…AHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA! Perfect! You're just as great as any little hero trying to save the world oughta be!"

"Just waiting…"

"But it changes nothing!"

'It changes nothing' cliché.

"I can't give up now! I can't! I WILL use the power of this Blue orb to awaken Kyogre at last! Then I'll return everything in this world to it's original, pure state! Now! AWAKEN, KYOGRE! RETURN EVERYTHING TO THE WAY IT WAS!"

"Archie!" A voice shouted behind us.

Shelly came down the slope and walked up in front of me.

"Oh hey, the prostitute's here."

"Shelly?!" Archie sputtered.

"That's enough! Can't you see that the world you dream of and the world Kyogre will create are two completely different places?!"

"Shelly…" Archie sighed. "I always believed that you would at least understand my dreams…" He whipped around. "But No! In the end, the only one I can depend on is you, Kyogre! Absorb all the power resting in this Blue Orb, and reclaim yourself! Revert to your Primal form!"

"Could have sworn I've heard this monologue before…"

"This is the time to take back the great evolution you lost in the ancient past!"

Oh, the déjà vu.

The chamber began to shake.

Maxie backed up slowly. "No…That…" He turned around and ran, as did Shelly.

Archie held up the Blue orb proudly in one hand. Kyogre opened his eyes and lunged upwards, crying out in fury. He sunk into the water and lunged again, breaking through the cavern's ceiling, out onto route 128 above us. I could still hear his great roars even from down here.

"Bwahahahahaha! At last…" Archie muttered in awe, "AT LAST! I've finally done it!"

"Yeah, Archie! You pretty much just doomed the human race!"

"Shut up, scamp! It hasn't even finished reversion, and it still has this much power! With this, I can return everything to it's natural beginning! It's time at last!"

"What have you done…" Shelly muttered.

Archie's radio beeped. "Is that the crew outside? What is it? Oh, so the great deluge has begun… Bwahahaha! But of course it has! That is exactly what I have-What?! What do you mean far more than we thought? It can't be… Then if it completes its Primal Reversion…Nevermind that! Just keep an eye on it!"

"Archie!" Shelly exclaimed, "What's going on outside?"

"All that matters is that I have used the Blue Orb to awaken Kyogre…And now… I will return this world to it's natural state…"

I decided to speak up. "DAMNIT ARCHIE YOU'RE MAKING THE SAME F***ING MISTAKE TEAM MAGMA DID!"

"Archie…" Maxie sighed. "It appears you have made a grave error regarding Kyogre's powers."

"What did you say?!"

"The 'beginning' that Primal Kyogre brings about… the way that it resets the world…It starts by first driving every living thing on this planet to it's death! This path leads only to an inescapable despair that cannot be withstood. That is all you have brought us."

"Oh, stop it, Maxie. You've being hypocritical. You awoke Groudon! Now I'm tracking both of them on my DexNav and it says their path intersects at Sootopolis City! They'll meet there soon, and they'll battle it out even more fiercely then last time!"

"We just need to get out of here!" Shelly yelled. "Standing around complaining isn't going to solve anything!" She turned to me. "You, too! Well, hurry up!"

I followed Maxie and Shelly out of the cave, while Archie took one last look at the Seafloor Cavern, then followed us.

We were greeted by what was practically a hurricane on the outside. "This…This is…" Archie's eyes widened in horror by the darkened sky. Rain down poured on us all.

"How awful…" Shelly muttered.

"Well, Archie, Maxie, thank you. If both of you weren't running around so much simultaneously, maybe I could have stopped the two of you in time." I said. "Zinnia's probably headed for the Sky Pillar by now. Surely, Rayquaza must sense what's going on by now…"

"Who the f*** is Rayquaza?!" Archie asked.

"The one who is more than likely going to save your sorry asses. Now get to Sootopolis and do what you can to hold off the Primal Pokemon until someone comes up with a better solution."

"The balance in this world is faltering…" Maxie sighed. "At this rate it may be lost forever. We will follow Kyogre to the city." Maxie turned to me. "As much as I don't want to, we'll have to take the child's advice. Archie, you and your team of fools will accompany us. We have brought this calamity upon ourselves. It is only right that we take responsibility and clean up after our mistakes."

"Ugh!" Archie gritted his teeth in anger. He glared at the water, as if wanting it to stop rising. He and Shelly then walked off.

Maxie once again addressed me. "As an adult, I first feel I must apologize for the way things have turned out."

"Did you have an epiphany while I was gone, or…"

"I am truly sorry. But I must ask for your assistance. Won't you help us avert this crisis?" If we work together, I believe we'll be able to overcome this ultimate threat. I will expect your arrival in Sootopolis." And he left as well.

I noticed something in the air flying towards the small island I stood on. "Brendan!" Steven hopped off of his Skarmory's back. "I'm sorry I could not be here sooner."

He looked to the sky. "Terrible.." He muttered. "So this is what was being depicted in that painting in Granite Cave. If this doesn't stop, all Hoenn-no the entire world-will drown…"

"Yeah, if Groudon's sweltering heat doesn't get them first."

"Wait, Groudon has awoken as well?!"

"Yeah, I couldn't stop either of them from awakening. Kyogre is headed for Sootopolis, and judging from how I can now see the harsh sunlight meeting the storm clouds, Groudon is almost here too. Zinnia has to have noticed this by now. She'll be heading for the Sky Pillar. Her Grandma said it was just a little ways past Pacifildog town on route 123, so after I see Sootopolis, I'll head there, too."

"Right, this Rayquaza character is our only hope now, isn't he…"

"I guess. I'll ask Latios."

Steven once again addressed the sky. "Nothing could live in such a world. Neither humans, nor Pokemon! This huge storm cloud… It's spreading out from here…"

"Come on, let's head for Sootopolis! I'll have to surf there, but you can fly, so get going!"

"Right!" he hopped on Skarmory's back and flew away.

I dialed up May immediately.

"Brendan?! Where are you?"

"Route 128, heading for Sootopolis now. You?"

"Lilycove! This huge red Pokemon just burst out of the side of Mt. Pyre!"

"That's Groudon. Do not engage him in battle no matter what. Stay where you are and let me know if anything changes."

I hung up, then dialed Wally.

"Wally, where are you at?"

"Ever Grande, what's this whole crazy storm from?"

"It's Kyogre. Steven told you about the legend, didn't he?"

"Yeah. So Kyogre is causing this?"

"Yeah, and he's about to meet Groudon in Sootopolis."

"Wait, are they going to fight again?"

"Yeah. Stay where you are, and let me know if anything changes."

I hung up, then called out Milotic, and began to surf towards Sootopolis.


	28. Rayquaza's Arrival

Pacifildog town floated on the ocean, getting it's electricity from power lines coming from the mainland.

The heavy storm had already spread to this area, so the town was pretty much closed off and all citizens were inside. I surfed through, healed my team at the Pokemon center, and had Milotic surf me out to route 131.

I found a passage through the rocks and we surfed through there and an island with a large tower came into view.

I leapt ashore and entered the cave. When I came out the other side, I was now standing in front of the Sky Pillar, a tower that was made of cobblestone and sandstone, with holes in the walls and pieces scattered around the base.

I entered the large doorway. I found Zinnia waiting for me by the first staircase.

"So you came for me. Thanks for that." She clapped her hands in mock applause. "That's really good, Brendan. I feel it, right here."

"Zinnia, stop it with the fake praise. Are we gonna battle or not?"

"We will!" She smiled. "But first…Look." She pointed to the wall of the tower behind her. A large painting just like the one in Granite Cave, was illustriously painted on the rock. This one depicted Groudon and Kyogre fighting, but also, it showed who I imagined to be Rayquaza prevailing over them and destroying the meteor.

"The paintings that cover the walls of this tower…See, these are the history of humanity, of Pokemon, and of nature itself. They're the tales that have been passed down by my ancestors, the Draconids, for thousands of years. And now… I will pass that history and lore onto you."

"Thanks."

"Thousands of years ago, in the primal age long lost, the world was overflowing with energy. Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre fought over that energy in endless, furious clashes. In the face of Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre's great power, people could do nothing. The only choice was to watch as disaster upon disaster swept over them. It was in such a time that many meteoroids poured from the darkness of space, from a place higher even than the heavens. And the meteoroids fell in their multitude upon a waterfall that had long been home to a tribe of Dragon-type Pokemon users…" She turned back to me.

"Ok, that's it! That's the end of the first chapter of my tale. I'll tell you the next part of the story on the next floor. Look forward to it!" And she turned and ran up the stairs.

"REALLY? FINE!" And I ran up after her. As I did, I couldn't help but feel really small. Something about this place put a pressure on my heart.

I met her at the next staircase, "Oh! Here you are! Let me continue. The meteors shone with a rainbow brilliance, as if some great life was held within. That was when, as if drawn by the brilliance, a Pokemon that shone in a blazing emerald hue descended from the heavens…That Pokemon was none other than Lord Rayquaza. Rayquaza's power overwhelmed that of the two Primal Pokemon, and peace returned to the world. The people of Hoenn revered Rayquaza as a true savior. A thousand years after this time, the meteoroids once again fell. A huge meteoroid, far greater than any before, struck the planet, boring deep into the ocean and leaving behind it a crater larger than any other. The land born of this event later became known as Sootopolis. And that's it! Chapter two is over! But we've only just left the starting line. There's a long way yet, don't fall behind now, or are you a wuss?"

"Yeah, not even gonna try to dignify that."

Zinnia grinned and bolted up the stairs again. At the next staircase…

"Now, our tale reaches the best part. Sootopolis was born from a great meteoroid strike. The great meteoroid was the first of many disasters to befall humanity. When it punched into the planet, the land cracked beneath it, and a great welling of energy poured from beneath Hoenn. Thirsting for that energy, Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre once again woke. The people had a wish, a memory from a thousand years before… They wished that the Pokemon clad in emerald light would appear again. The huge Meteorite that lay at the heart of Sootopolis gave off a boundless brilliance. In it's brilliance, it resembled a vast and powerful keystone. And once again, Rayquaza descended from whence it came in the heavens.

The People fell to their knees before Rayquaza and made a wish for salvation. As they did, a great change came over the Legendary Pokemon. It was enveloped in blinding light. As the light receded, they beheld a Rayquaza beyond all knowledge. A sublime figure, incandescent with overwhelming life force. It was humanity's wish that brought about Rayquaza's transformation in the face of the rainbow stone. Yes… A wish… An intangible thing; invisible to the eye. Yet this wish bound people and pokemon together, enabling the Legendary Pokemon to change it's appearance. Doesn't it remind you of something? That's right. It sounds like Mega Evolution, doesn't it? Well, that's the end of Chapter three! Catch me if you can!"

And she dashed up the stairs.

As I met her at the next one, she resumed.

"And how did the story end? After being transformed by the wish of the people, did Rayquaza save them from disaster? Rayquaza once again confronted Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre. The golden filaments that sprang from it's body covered the sky. An emerald brilliance illuminated the area. A terrible wind rose. The wind and emerald light visibly sapped the power from Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre. Drained of their primal powers, the two vanished into the depths of land and sea. Rayquaza watched them go, regaining it's usual appearance. Then it soared back up into the heavens where it dwelled. A witness to this series of events, a tall visitor from a distant land, said, "It is the Delta, born of the great disturbances in this world. By the bonds born of mankinds's wish and the power of the stones, it will calm the troubles that plague the world.

That was when the Draconids constructed their great tower, to hold the rainbow stone that had granted Rayquaza it's power, and try to get a little bit closer to Rayquaza in the heavens above. To record the history of their trial and the great feats of mighty Rayquaza for all to know, they left behind the murals you see here."

She gazed around us in awe. "A giant tower, and paintings of the past…You know, I feel like I've seen something like that recently. Heh. But now, I suppose it's time for the last chapter in our tale."

She ran up the stairs. I followed.

I could hear the heavy rain outside and thunder and lightning. I met Zinnia at the last set of steps. This one led to an opening in the ceiling, and rain dropped in.

"At last we reach the final chapter…A thousand years of peace followed after that disastrous time. But the Draconid people, learning from their long history's cyclical nature, foretold that meteoroids would one day fall on this land again. The meteoroid to come, they prophesized, would be far greater than those that had come before it. This meteoroid would be great enough to break the world forever. In order to prevent this great calamity, those who held the knowledge of the past arrived at a plan. Their plan was to invoke Rayquaza, the great savior, and summon it to this land before the meteoroid could strike. And that's it. That's the end of our… of the Draconid's tale.

I spent a long time thinking about how I could protect the happiness of as many people as possible. What I must do, as one who holds both the knowledge and power… One who bears the heavy wishes of those who could not… live up to that fate… Well, I had to be really creative, you know?"

"That's not the term I'd use. You tried to steal keystones, didn't you?"

"Not from any of you or your friends."

"Even if you stole from the worst of criminals wouldn't make it right."

"Maybe. But I plan on protecting this world and people will call me a hero! I will usher in another thousand years of peace!"

She dashed up the last staircase to the roof of the Sky Pillar.

When I arrived at the roof myself, I was amazed at what I saw. The Sky Pillar reached up into and beyond the clouds. I could see the thunderhead of the storm to the north east where I assume Sootopolis was. Zinnia stood next to a small Whismur. "…See that Aster? You always wanted to watch them, right? The Litleonids. A million glittering stars falling from the sky… The show is about to start."

"Mur! Murrr!" Aster replied.

"Aren't we happy, now?" Zinnia grinned. "Yes, what could be better, dear Aster? Ha ha…" Zinnia turned to face me. "…Welcome to the Dragonhark Altar. Brendan."

"Zinnia. Well? Let's get on with it. As worried as I am about my friends, I also want to see this Rayquaza."

"You know what I'm trying to do here by now, don't you?"

"Your gonna use Rayquaza and save the world. And then a thousand years of sunshine and rainbows."

"That's right. I will summon Rayquaza to this world to destroy the meteoroid headed for Hoenn, then defeat Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre. That is my… our duty." She looked towards the sky.

"Ever since I was a little girl, I have always turned my eyes up to the sky. When I was so full of uncertainty that I felt my heart might be crushed by it. When I was so grief-stricken and alone I thought my heart might break of it."

"Zinnia…" I have to admit, I wasn't expecting her to open up like this. I suspected she had a hard past. But this…

"I turned and looked up there… So that my tears would never, ever fall. What about you? Have you ever had to do something like that?"

"I have. Maybe it wasn't the sea, the land, or the sky. But I come from what you might call a dysfunctional family. My mom cares, don't get me wrong, but Dad is kind of a perverted asshole who always hated me for coming along and ruining the 'Baller' part of his life. I never liked him either. I was mostly on my own, so at the age of fourteen, just about a week and a half ago, actually, I was thrilled to go on a journey. Sure, maybe Hoenn's people can be a little weird, but the whole world is in some way or another. But I still wanted to go out and see it with a team of Pokemon, who are not my tools, but partners, and friends. I didn't just want to become a strong trainer, but a strong person. So I didn't have to rely on anyone else, but I also kinda realized…"

My mind pictured May and Wally in my mind.

"Maybe, sometimes… I have to rely on people that care about me."

"Right…" Zinnia nodded. "I used to watch the stars like this all the time. Together with Aster. We were always together, in good times and in bad. I loved her. I loved her with everything I had…"

"But…"

"But I still lost her."

"What do you mean you lost- oh. You had a daughter, didn't you?"

"…" A tear slid down her cheek. "Hahahaha…I want to see her… I want to be with her again. My sweet Aster… I will, won't I? With this… Just a little longer…" She turned back to me. "Do you know what I mean?"

"…Yeah. I know… Damnit, Zinnia, I know." I clenched my fist.

"Mm… Enough waiting. I think it's time I gave it a shot. I'm sorry… for all the trouble I caused you. If something happens to me… Please… take this little one." She gestured to the Whismur sitting next to her, who then scampered over to my side.

Zinnia got on her knees, facing the alter, and joined her hands.

"…Ok. Here I go." She inhaled a shaky breath.

"With jewel bright and borrowed might, from the spirits of the departed…Through sacred rite, in thy great sight, my life, as well, I offer…"

The key stones Zinnia had gathered began to glow.

The tower began to shake. Zinnia growled to withstand it.

"I summon thee…to aid…this fight…and save us from…disaster! Realize them…upon this world…! For this do I summon thee!" She looked upwards. "RAYQUAZA!"

A brilliant green light shot downwards like a comet, halting before the surface of the Sky Pillar. A serpentine dragon with green scales and yellow markings running down his body hovered in front of us.

Rayquaza roared, shaking the tower once more.

"Ray-Rayquaza! I did it! Now the world will be saved! Aster, I did it!" She turned quickly back to the dragon.

"Great Rayquaza! Hear my wish! Achieve your Mega Evolution! Take hold of your true power! Show me your true face! The Lord Rayquaza that will save this planet!"

Just as Zinnia said these words, the Key stones went dark.

"Huh?!" She gasped. "How can this be?! I gathered all the keystones that could withstand your great power… And summoned you here…You came… And yet… Why!?" She frowned and yelled. "Come on! Do it! MEGA EVOLVE!" Nothing happened. "Why!? Why won't you…"

Rayquaza angrily roared again.

"Zinnia, you're doing it wrong."

"Wha…?"

"You've summoned Rayquaza, true, but getting him to Mega Evolve is another task altogether. And you're trying to do it for the wrong reasons. It'd be great to be hailed as a hero, yes, but the fate of the world should be your first and only concern now." I stepped towards Rayquaza, confidently. Rayquaza roared again, but went silent as soon as I touched his snout. "See, Zinnia? You're trying to do everything perfectly. But I think I understand. It takes an imperfect person to do this."

"What?"

"Rayquaza." I called his name softly. "Your brothers have awoken once more and reclaimed their Primal Reversions. You're the only one who could stand a chance against them. Will you help me stop them and protect my friends, people and Pokemon alike?" Rayquaza responded by softly humming.

"It can't be…"

"Rayquaza feeds on minerals and particles in the air. That's where he must get energy from. I pulled Professor Cozmo's Meteorite from my bag, inside a plastic bowl and lid. I opened it, returned the bowl and lid to my bag, and offered up the meteorite. Rayquaza gently grabbed it out of my hand in his large claws, looked at it, then gobbled it down. "See, Zinnia? You had enough power, but Rayquaza doesn't. Besides, you just met the dragon god. You haven't formed a bond with him."

I touched Rayquaza's snout once more. He closed his eyes…then they snapped open again. The tower shook. Rayquaza reeled back and roared as he began to glow. I grinned.

"Rayquaza is trying to battle you, Brendan! You have to-"

I tossed the master ball I found in Archie's base onto Rayquaza. It bounced off of his head, and it sucked Rayquaza inside. It wobbled once, twice, thrice, and beeped, signaling a successful capture.

"Or…do…that…"

I grinned.

I then tossed the Master Ball again, and Rayquaza erupted from it. "Alright, buddy, Kyogre and Groudon are on a rampage. We need to stop them."

"Wait…Brendan?"

"Yes, Zinnia?"

"As anti-climatic as that was…anyway, just… after this is over, battle me, sometime, will ya?"

I grinned. "Yeah, sure."

And we flew off.

Rayquaza surged forward and flew towards the storm. The harsh sunlight was taking it's toll as well, but Rayquaza was unfazed. I had to hold on to his back for dear life, as he flew at breakneck speed. We dove into the clouds, lightning bouncing off of Rayquaza's body. We descended into Sootopolis City not even a minute later, and I could see extensive damage already done on the City. I jumped off of Rayquaza's back, then, called out Latios. Latios caught me and flew me down to where May, Wally, Steven and everyone else was at. I hopped off and joined them quickly.

"Brendan! Is that Rayquaza?" Steven gasped in awe of the dragon.

"Yeah, it is. What happened to your guys' teams?"

"Groudon and Kyogre defeated them all."

I growled in frustration at the 2 Primal Pokemon. They had stopped fighting, noticing Rayquaza's arrival.

"RAYQUAZA!" I called out. "NOW IS THE TIME!" I hefted my key stone, ready to battle. "MEGA EVOLVE!" I tapped the keystone.

Rayquaza's emerald green aura amplified, as the storm picked up even more, the wind seemingly being drawn to Rayquaza. Lightning cracked through the air around him, as his glowing body writhed and shook. With one echoing, ferocious roar, Rayquaza's glow ceased. His body was now a darker green, with his yellow markings gone black. Golden feelers extended from his rugged jawline.

Primal Groudon was the first to make a move. He used Lava Plume, sending a wave of magma and rock at Rayquaza, who met the attack with Dragon Pulse, causing an explosion. Primal Kyogre shot an Origin Pulse at both of them, but Rayquaza dodged easily. Rayquaza shot into the sky, glowing green once more, then rocketed down and rammed both the Primal Pokemon.

Groudon and Kyogre roared in pain as they lost their Primal forms and landed in the water.

They didn't resurface. Rayquaza reverted to his natural state.


	29. The Final Gym

May, Wally, Steven, Wallace (Sootoplis' Gym Leader), Archie, Maxie, and the entirety of Team Magma and Team Aqua had tried to battle the Primal Reversed Pokemon, but had lost, as they simply got caught in the crossfire of the two battling each other for supremacy.

A week had passed since Kyogre and Groudon's defeat. After Mega Rayquaza had made short work of his younger brothers, they fled to Arceus-knows-where. Then Rayquaza had flown up into space alone, and shattered the meteor that was heading for earth, and devoured the pieces. Then he descended from the heavens, and I returned him to his master ball to rest, as his energy was sapped and he probably needed his afternoon nap.

"Wait, you mean Rayquaza's your pokemon now?" May asked.

"Yep. Jealous?"

"Wha-pfffft. Of course not."

"Your facial expression says otherwise."

"Guys, stop flirting." Wally grinned.

"I'M NOT FLIRTING!" May shouted.

"Well, Brendan," The Sootopolis Gym leader who had tried, and subsequently failed to battle Kyogre and Groudon, said, "I do hope that your majestic face-I mean, team, come and challenge my gym sometime," And with that he left.

"Hey, little scamp, I'd just like to apologize for the way things turned out." Archie looked at his boots.

"Archie, let me stop you right there. You made a mistake. People do that sometimes. What you and Maxie both need to do is rethink your ideals and how your teams are working."

"Hm. Very well." Maxie pondered for a moment, and he and Archie led their respective teams away.

The next day:

"Allow me to formally introduce myself. I am Wallace. The Gym Leader of Sootopolis City. There's something about you… A difference in your demeanor…"

"Look man, I just stopped the world from ending. If we could get this over with, that would be great."

"Very well. Although in all my years, I've never seen eyes as beautiful as yours."

"Okay, I don't know how to talk to you."

"Now show me the power you and your Pokemon wield!" He struck a pose. "And I, in turn, shall present you…" He twirled around, "With a performance of illusions in water…" He struck a thinker pose, "By me and my Pokemon!"

"Sir, you are forty years old, stop that."

"Luvdisc!"

"Manectric!"

"Okay, let's go with Charge Beam!" Manectric fired a lightning bolt. Luvdisc fainted.

"Whiscach!" His next Pokemon was a large fish pokemon.

"Switch out, Shiftry!" Shiftry landed on the field before me. "Leaf Storm!" Shiftry cast up a whirlwind of leaves and hurled it. Whiscach fainted. 

"Milotic!" 

"Of course. Leaf Storm!" Wallace's Milotic took a chunk of damage. 

"Ice Beam!" Wallace replied. Milotic fired her own beam of blue lightning that hit Shiftry. 

"Leaf Storm!" 

"Ice Beam!" Milotic took little damage, but Shiftry fainted. 

"Manectric! Charge Beam!" 

Milotic fainted. 

"Sealeo!" 

"Charge Beam!" 

"Sealeo fainted as well. 

"Seaking!" 

Well, you should see the pattern by now. 

"Charge beam!" 

Seaking down. 

"Bravo!" Wallace cheered. "I now recognize your authenticity and magnificence as a trainer. I find much joy in having met you and your pokemon. You have proven yourself worthy of the Rain Badge. Accept it." He handed me a badge shaped like three rain drops forming a triangle." And so you never forget the battle we just shared…" He twirled around, "Here…" He handed me HM 5: Waterfall.  
That move lets you ram into an opponent with the force required to climb a waterfall itself." 

Heh, 'Ram into,' hehehehehehe…" 

""Yes it is a mighty move. Yet it also has a certain elegance-" 

I left already.


	30. Wally in Victory Road

So victory road was actually giving me a hard time. It came as a bit of a shock, as you might guess. I had spent maybe a week traveling Hoenn's main land, stocking up on medicine and other things, even buying one of each of the Department store's TMs.

But this cave was a maze. I had to backtrack several times, defeat many actually strong trainers to get around, and peer into the darkness to find out how to solve this rocky puzzle.

On the bright side, my team's levels were now in their early fifties. No wonder I had such an easy time with the rest of the region. All the strong people were here.

I was really having fun, and my good time got better when I found TM 29: Psychic on a cliff.

And then I found TM 35: Flamethrower behind a boulder.

And TM 81: X-Scissor by a waterfall.

I heard that at the end of the Victory Road there was supposedly a garden of sorts. When I reached it, Wally was standing there waiting for me.

"Yo."

"Hey! Were you surprised to see me in a place like this?" Wally asked.

"No, actually. I kind of knew you were going to get farther than most."

Wally laughed. "I know, the only good trainers have made it here already. But to be honest, it was really all thanks to you that I could make it this far, Brendan. It was only because I lost to you that I could get stronger. I'm sure that you and your Pokemon must have overcome a lot, too, to make it all the way here. Right, Brendan?"

"You could say that, yeah. Had to deal with the Gym Leaders, the stupidity of Team Aqua and Team Magma. And Stopped the world from ending with Rayquaza."

"Speaking of which, where is he? Do you have him with you, right now?"

"No, he's flying around out there somewhere."

"You mean you released him?"

"No, he's still loyal to me, said so himself. He's a legendary Pokemon, so he still has to oversee his domain, his case being the sky. He'll come when I call."

"Oh, I see. Also, do you know what happened to Groudon and Kyogre?"

"I'd say they were returned to their resting places. I think I'll go look for them after I beat the Pokemon League."

"What would you do if you found them?"

"Capture them, like I did Rayquaza."

"Hm. Well, Everyone seems to have grown quite a bit after that whole experience. My parents still call every now and then asking me to come home where it's 'safe' but I'm having to much fun out here."

"I take it Treecko evolved?"

"Oh, yeah, he's a Sceptile now. How about a battle so I can show you just how much we've grown?"

"Sure." I grinned.

"And now, we'll finally get to see just what we all can do. Standing here facing you gives me chills, honestly." He took a deep breath, "But I won't give up!"

"Me neither, pal!"

Wally grinned. "Altaria!"

"Manectric!"

"Safeguard!"

"Let's start off strong, OVERHEAT!" Manectric used friction in his fur to generate a wave of great heat that blasted Altaria heavily. When the smoke cleared, Altaria barely took damage.

"Oh, boy…"

"Dragon Pulse!" Altaria fired her own attack and Manectric was knocked back, but dug his claws into the dirt to keep from losing any more ground.

"Oh, man! Charge Beam!" Manectric fired a bolt at Altaria, who seemed not to take much damage once more.

"Aerial Ace!" Altaria slashed Manectric.

"Thunder Wave!" Manectric used friction to send a steady wave of electricity at Altaria, but it seemingly bounced off.

"Wha-?"

"That's Safeguard for you! Protects from any status conditions like that! Aerial Ace!" Altaria struck Manectric again.

"Manectric, Charge Beam!" Manectric fired bolts again until he hit the quickly moving Altaria.

Altaria fainted, and Manectric wasn't looking to good either.

"Sceptile! Leaf Blade!"

His grass-type pokemon sharpened the leaves on his arms and swung at Manectric, who dodged them.

"Overheat!" Manectric hurled another fire blast at Sceptile. Sceptile dodged that too.

"Crap."

"Leech Seed!" Sceptile tangled Manectric in vines.

"That's alright, Manectric, Charge Beam!"

Sceptile dodged it.

"Oh shit…"

"Leaf Blade!" Sceptile struck down Manectric with his blades.

"Alright, Blaziken! Blaze Kick!"

Blaziken dashed forward and set his legs ablaze. He spin-kicked Sceptile, sending it to the ground.

"Nice…" Wally said. "Magneton!"

"That's not gonna do you much good! Blaze Kick!" Blaziken kicked Magneton, who hung on, barely.

"Tri-Attack!" Each of Magneton's heads formed a ball of energy, one of electricity, one of fire, and one of ice. The three orbs formed a triangle that stuck Blaziken in the chest.

"Blaze Kick!" Magneton fainted.

"Delcatty!"

"Oh hey…"

Delcatty growled fiercely and adorably.

"You remember the Skitty you gave me?" Wally asked.

"As a matter o' fact, I do! But this is a battle, so… Blaziken, Power-up Punch!"

Delcatty fainted in one hit.

"Alright, you've beaten the rest of my team, but there's one more left…" Wally grinned and pulled out his last Poke Ball.

"Gallade!"

"Here we go…" But I was surprised when Wally pulled up his pendant and tapped it. Gallade became surrounded by light, and when it faded, Gallade looked entirely different.

He now had cape-like extension on his back, his arm blades sharper.

"Ok, if that's how you want it!"

I tapped my own Key Stone on my wrist. Blaziken Mega Evolved too.

"Here we go, Wally! Brave Bird!" Blaziken became a quick blur as he rushed at Gallade.

"Gallade, Psycho Cut!" Gallade extended one blade as it glowed purple, and dashed forward as well. The two met in the middle and an explosion rocked the cave. When the smoke cleared, Gallade had reverted to his base form and Blaziken stood, but barely.

"…I've lost…" Wally sighed, but grinned cheerfully. He threw his hands up in mock anger. "Arrrgh!"

"…Hah."

"Brendan, you and your Pokemon too… Thank you for not holding back against us. Gallade, and the others… Thank you so much…"

"Hey, man, it was a great battle. I really enjoyed it myself."

"Yeah. Now I feel like I've been able to take another step forward thanks to you! Oh, I know, I'll give you this to keep I hope it will always remind you of your battle with me… and with Gallade and the rest of my team."

He reached behind himself and produced a small rounded stone, with light blue coloring.

"If you have a male Kirlia as one of your partners, Brendan, I hope that you might use that Dawn Stone on it for me. It'll evolve into a Gallade. I couldn't beat you this time, Brendan. But I'll stay here and continue training. And one day… Look out! I swear I'll catch up to you one day! When I do, we'll battle again! That's a promise I plan to live up to!"

"Yeah, I can't wait! Now, if you'll excuse me, the Pokemon League is calling my name!"

And I dashed out of the cave.


	31. The Pokemon League

So the Pokemon League building was built like a huge traditional Johto-esque temple, I think. The inside was much more modern.

The lobby consisted of a Pokemon Center, a Poke Mart, and a lounge, so I healed my team, bought medicine, and faced the double doors of doom.

"Only trainers who have collected all eight Gym Badges may go beyond this point."

I showed him my Badge case.

"Trainer, believe in yourself and your Pokemon, and go forth!"

And the door opened wide.

The first bridge led to another, smaller temple. Lights were on behind the windows. Sand fell all around me into the miniature desert below the bridge.

When I entered the room, a mostly bald looking guy was sitting on a chair waiting for me.

"Welcome challenger! I'm Sidney of the Elite Four."

"You a gangsta?"

His face darkened, all serious like. "I didn't choose the thug life… I got a job…"

I laughed.

"Well, Sidney, lets get this over with."

"That's the spirit! I like that look you're giving me. I guess you'll give me a good match. That's good! Looking real good!"

He nodded in approval.

"All right! Let's get down to the kind of battle that can happen only here in the Pokemon league! Mightyena!"

"Manectric!"

Both of us gave our commands.

"Charge Beam!" Mightyena was faster, though and sucker punched Manectric.

Manectric howled and fired a bolt of electricity back.

"Thunder wave!" Manectric released a wave of lightning that paralyzed Mightyena.

"Swagger!" Mightyena puffed out his chest as if bragging. Manectric swayed on his feet, confused.

"Try Charge Beam!"

"Sucker Punch!" Mightyena punched Manectric in the side. Manectric managed to fire one beam and blast Mightyena away.

I brought Manectric back and Sidney healed Mightyena with a full restore.

"Overheat!" Manectric released a huge blast of fire and took out Mightyena in one hit.

"Shiftry!"

"Overheat!"

"Fake Out!" Shiftry clapped his hands in front of Manectric's face, causing him to flinch.

"Try again!" Manectric fired another Overheat attack, knocking out Shiftry in one blow as well.

"Sharpedo, you're up next!"

"Charge Beam." Manectric fired another bolt of electricity and Sharpedo staggered.

"Aqua Jet!" Sharpedo surrounded himself with water and rammed Manectric.

Manectric fainted, so I brought out my own Shiftry.

"Leaf Storm!" Shiftry hurled leaves at Sharpedo, who fainted.

"Nice!" Sidney commented, "Absol!"

"Alright, Shiftry, Leaf Storm!" Shiftry's attack didn't miss.

"Aerial Ace!" Absol used the horn on his head to slash Shiftry before he could react.

"Grrrrr…Leaf Storm!" Shiftry's attack hit home.

"Aerial Ace!" Absol slashed Shiftry again, bringing him down to low health.

"Leaf Storm! Before they can move!" Shiftry hurled another whirlwind of leaves at Absol, who was knocked out by the attack.

"Cacturne!"

"Switch out! Swellow!"

"Spiky Shield!" Cacturne brought spines out of his arms and crossed them.

"Aerial Ace!"

Swellow hit the attack, but it did nothing because of Spiky Shield.

"Swellow, try again, before they can move!" Swellow, without losing momentum, struck Cacturne down.

"Well how do you like that? I lost! Eh, it was fun, so it doesn't matter. Well, listen to what this loser has to say. You've got what it takes to go a long way. Go on to the next room and challenge your next battle!"

The next bridge overlooked a swamp. Tree branches hung over the bridge and a eerie fog seeped through the air. The next door opened. Inside was a girl in a sort of kimono. She laughed cheerfully as she saw me.

"I'm Phoebe of the Elite Four. I did my training on Mt. Pyre."

I could have sworn I saw a little girl out of the corner of my eye.

"Uh…Hey, did you see the-"

"While I trained there, I gained the ability to commune with Ghost Type Pokemon."

"Cool, but there's a little-"

"The bond I developed with my Pokemon is extremely tight."

"Uhm, miss Phoebe…"

"Come on! Just try and see if you can even inflict damage on my Pokemon! Dusclops!"

"Ok, we're doing this now! Manectric!"

"Charge Beam!" Manectric fired a bolt of electricity at Dusclops, and the attack hit.

"Curse!" Dusclops cut his own health, and laid some sort of curse on Manectric.

"Tch…Charge Beam!" Manectric's second bolt knocked Dusclops out.

"Sableye!"

"Manectric, switch! Milotic, Dragon Pulse!" Milotic fired a stream of energy at Sableye. The attack missed as Sableye darted to the left faster than I could see.

"Foul Play!" Sableye rushed Milotic imbued with a black aura and smashed into Milotic.

"Surf!" Milotic brought a wave down on Sableye.

"Dusknoir!" Dusknoir is the evolved form of Dusclops, so I don't know why she had another Dusclops, but that's not my problem.

"Surf, again!" Milotic brought him down to about half health, I'd say, but Dusknoir retaliated with Thunder Punch. Milotic didn't take much more damage, but she was paralyzed.

"Try another Surf!" Dusknoir was faster as he knocked Milotic out with his last attack.

"Damn… Alright, take over, Shiftry! Dark Pulse!" Shiftry released a wave of black energy that overtook Dusknoir and knocked it out.

"Banette!"

"Dark Pulse!"

Banette fainted, too.

"Banette!"

Oh, she has another one, apparently.

"Dark Pulse."

Down it went.

"There's definitely a bond between you and your Pokemon, too. I didn't recognize that fact, so it's only natural that I lost." Phoebe nodded, "Yup. I'd like to see how far your bond would carry you. Go ahead. Move on to the next room!"

So I did. This next bridge overlooked a frozen lake as snow fell down around me.

"Brrrrr…" I hurried on.

The bridge led to what looked like a small log cabin. Once inside, the sight of an elderly woman in a heavy looking dress greeted me.

"Welcome, I am Glacia of the Elite Four. I've traveled from afar so that I may hone my Ice-type moves." She sighed. "But all I have seen are challenges by weak trainers and their Pokemon."

"That's a cold thing to say." I blinked. "OOOOOHHHHH. Nice."

"I wonder what you will show me. What a relief it would be if I could, for once, have a serious battle against an opponent!"

"Alright, Elsa, let's do this."

"Glalie!"

"Blaziken!"

Needless to say the battle was over before Glacia could react. She simply stared straight ahead of herself as I moved on.

The next room was slightly warmer.

And by warmer, I mean this person had a lava lake under their bridge. So I moved on to the next chamber and found myself facing a man looking to be in his sixties. He had white hair, a stern look on his face. He wore a Captain's coat over his bare torso, leaving it unzipped so anyone could see his muscular and scarred torso, mementos I guess from his sailing days.

"I am the last of the Elite Four. Drake, the dragon master." He spoke. "In their natural state, Pokemon are wild living things. They are free. At times, they hinder us. At times, they help us. For us to battle alongside Pokemon as partners, do you know what it takes? Do you know what is needed? If you don't, you will never prevail over me! Altaria!"

"Manectric!"

"Let's start off with Charge Beam!" Manectric zapped Altaria, but she didn't take much damage.

"Dragon Pulse!" Altaria fired her own energy beam, colliding with Manectric dead on.

"Again!" Manectric fired another beam. Again, Altaria withstood it.

"Dragon Pulse!" Altaria still had more health than Manectric, so something needed to be done.

"Overheat!"

Ok, so sue me, I made a mistake. That didn't damage Altaria as much as I thought. She pulled off another Dragon Pulse and Manectric fainted.

"Milotic!" Maybe Milotic's defenses would be better suited for this, besides she has…

"Dragon Pulse!" Milotic fired an identical stream of purple fire in Altaria's direction.

"Flygon!" Drake sent out his Flygon.

"Oh, you have one of those too. Dragon Pulse!" Milotic was faster and hit Flygon in the chest.

"Boom burst!" Flygon vibrated her wings faster and sent a damaging sound wave in all directions. It hit Milotic, but didn't do much.

"Surf!" Milotic brought a wave down on Flygon and knocked her out.

Drake seemed to be losing his composure more and more as the battle progressed.

"Oh, sorry, am I… waking up the dragon?"

"Salamence!" Salamence's intimidate lowered Milotic's attack.

"Dragon Rush!" Salamence attempted to dive bomb Milotic, but missed.

"Dragon Pulse!" Milotic streamed more fire in his direction. It overtook Salamence and knocked him clean out.

"Flygon!"

"Wait, you have two? Eh, whatever. Dragon Pulse!" Milotic knocked Flygon out too.

"Kingdra! Use-"

"Dragon Pulse!" Milotic knocked Kingdra out.

"You deserve every credit for coming this far as a Pokemon Trainer. You do seem to know what is needed. Yes, what a trainer needs is a true and virtuous heart. It is through their contact with trainers that Pokemon learn right from wrong. The influence of their trainer's good hearts helps them grow strong! Go! Go Onward! The Champion is waiting!"

The door opened.


	32. Brendan vs Steven

A large concrete door stood before me at the end of the metal bridge. It opened for me and I walked up a set of stairs. I made my way up to the Champion's platform. I have to admit, he surprised me, looking as sharp as ever in his tux.

"Welcome, Brendan." Steven Stone greeted me. "I was hoping I would get to see you make it here one day. Tell me… What have you seen on your journey with your Pokemon? What have you felt, meeting so many other trainers out there? Traveling this rich land of Hoenn… Has it awoken something inside you?"

"I don't know. I look at myself in the mirror sometimes and all I see staring back at me is sexiness."

Steven laughed. "I want you to come at me with all that you've learned. My Pokemon and I will respond in turn with all that we know!" He grinned "Let it begin!"

"Manectric!"

"Skarmory!"

"Charge Beam!" Manectric fired one bolt and almost knocked Manectric out in one hit, but Skarmory's Sturdy ability kept it from fainting from OHKO's.

"Spikes!" Skarmory shed several feathers and scattered them around Manectric's feet. He then restored Skarmory's health with a full restore.

"Charge Beam!" Manectric brought Skarmory down that time.

"Aggron!" Aggron caused a great thud in the solid iron floor when his feet met the tile.

"Overheat!" Manectric hurled the fire blast at Aggron, who took the full brunt of it. It actually brought him down to near zero health as well. But his Earthquake almost knocked Manectric out, so I had to get him to move faster than Aggron.

"Overheat!" The attack brought Aggron down.

"Claydol!" Steven's next Pokemon hovered in the air.

"Manectric, Overheat!" Manectric hurled another fire blast at Claydol, barely damaging it.

"Earth Power!" Claydol shook the ground and caused an eruption just underneath Manectric, knocking him out cold.

"Shiftry! Leaf Storm!" Shiftry hurled a whirlwind of leaves at Claydol, making Claydol faint.

"Armaldo!"

"Shiftry, Leaf Storm!" Shiftry hurled another whirlwind of leaves at the enemy, but Armaldo didn't seem to take much damage.

"X-scissor!" Armaldo swiped his claws across Shiftry's body. Shiftry fainted.

"Flygon! Earthquake!" Flygon unleashed a tremor into the arena. Armaldo staggered, but replied with X-Scissor.

"Earthquake, one more time!" Steven healed Armaldo with a full restore before Flygon could move, so Armaldo took him out with an X-Scissor.

"Swellow! Steel Wing!" Swellow's attack missed, unfortunately, so Armaldo took him out with a Rock Blast.

"Milotic! Surf!" Milotic brought a heavy wave down on Armaldo's head. Armaldo fainted.

"Cradlily!"

"Milotic, Dragon Pulse!" Dragon Pulse barely took out any of Cradlily's health.

"Giga Drain!" Cradlily stole a large chunk of Milotic's health, restoring what little it lost.

"Surf!" That attack barely did anything either.

"Confuse Ray!" Cradlily sent over yonder some weird lights, and Milotic swayed and couldn't see clearly.

"Recover!" Milotic pulled through and healed herself.

"Giga Drain!" Milotic lost more health.

"Dragon Pulse!" Milotic whapped herself in the face.

"Giga Drain!" Milotic fainted.

"Alright…Blaziken! Power-up Punch!" Blaziken's fist glowed in a rustic red color as he socked Cradlily and knocked it out.

"Very well, Brendan! Go, Metagross!" Steven took his Keystone and tapped it. Light surrounded Metagross, as it's four legs changed to eight.

I tapped my Keystone as well, and Blaziken Mega Evolved.

"Blaze Kick!"

"Meteor Mash!" Blaziken and Metagross rushed each other. In the explosion that followed, I could see Blaziken standing, but Metagross collapsed in a heap on the floor.

"Hooo!" I fell over and hit the floor. "HOLY SHIT…"

"So I, the Champion, fall in defeat… Just as I have come to expect." Steven said as Metagross was sucked into its Pokeball. "Brendan, you are truly an excellent Pokemon Trainer. Congratulations to you! And thank you…I have wanted to learn how you feel about this world."

"Well with all the politics, you tell me."

"..What kinds of ideals you have developed with your Pokemon… I feel I was able to find the answer in our battle. The feelings you have for your Pokemon… And the way that your Pokemon gave their all in battle in response to those feelings... Those two together created a great power. That is how you seized victory today."

"Yeah, yeah, friendship equals great things, can I get a water?" I panted.

Steven offered me his hand and pulled me up and handed me a water bottle.

"I felt a thrill of excitement in my breast when we first met-"

"So did May."

"And now I know for sure that feeling was not misplaced. You are rightfully the Hoenn Region's new…"

"Brendan! Wait!" May came running up behind me.

"Speak of the devil."

"I've got some advice you've got to hear before you challenge the champion!"

"Relax, girl, it's already over.

"Wha…"

"I won."

"How…"

"I'll tell you about how hot I was later."

Professor Birch came hobbling along after her. "See, May? What did I say?" He panted. "Didn't I tell you that Brendan would be just fine?" he turned to me once he caught his breath. "Brendan, you've finally done it. When I heard that you defeated your own father at the Petalburg Gym-"

"That was well over a week ago."

"I thought perhaps you had a chance…"

"I was going to win and you know it."

"Wait, you mean over Steven or your Father?"

"Yes."

"Anyway, to think that you've actually become the Champion! But Congratulations on today's victory! Now go in there with you head held high!"

"Brendan…" Steven called. "No, I should call you the Hoenn region's new Pokemon League Champion…"

"Or Brendan for short."

"Come with me, Champion." He led me up the staircase behind him. May tried to follow.

"I'm very sorry. But only a trainer who has successfully become the champion may go beyond this point. You'll need to wait outside with the Professor."

"WHAT? BUT I FLEW, SURFED, AND WATERFALLED ALL THE WAY UP HERE!"

"Maaaaayyyyy…"

"Fine…"

Steven led me into another room, with shiny clean steel tiles and walls lit by torches. A restoration machine like those found in Pokemon Centers was up against the back wall.

"This room is where we maintain the records of Pokemon that prevailed through the harshest of battles. It is here that league champions are honored. Come, we will use this machine to record your name and the names of the partners who battled along with you to triumph over the Pokemon League!"

I filled the six slots with the Pokeballs of my injured teammates. They glowed with a golden light of healing. My name and theirs were recorded on the screen on the wall.

"Congratulations."

As I walked back down to the Champions platform, I passed May. Steven and Professor Birch had already left, along with the Elite Four.

"Hey." I said quietly. I offered her my arm. "Let's go back home. To Littleroot."

"Yeah…" She smiled and took my arm and we walked out together.

We took the long way back to Littleroot.


	33. Brendan vs Zinnia

The Sky Pillar's Altar peeked above the fluffy white clouds.

Zinnia sat with her back to me when I arrived, seemingly meditating.

She heard my footsteps as I approached.

"I knew you wouldn't forget." She grinned as she turned to face me.

"A lot of girls never forget me."

"Probably not for the reasons you hope."

"Fast with the comebacks. Nicely done. Now let's see if your battling skills hold up to your arsenal of snappy zingers."

"I've been waiting for this moment, you know."

And of course she has to monologue.

"Me too, Zinnia, so let's do this."

"Garchomp!"

"Alakazam!"

Oh yeah, remember that Abra I caught way back when? He's an Alakazam now, and that's not all…

"Ready?"

"Ready."

"Mega evolve!" Zinnia and I simultaneously shouted.

Garchomp's claws merged with his fins, into scythe-like weapons. Spikes emerged from all over his skin.

Alakazam hovered in the air, his spoons multiplying into multiple spoons. His head changed shape, and his whiskers extended into a full beard.

"Aerial Ace!"

"Energy Ball!"

Mega Garchomp was faster, rushing Alakazam, scythes at the ready. Garchomp slashed Alakazam, sending him back a few feet.

Alakazam drew in natural energy into a little green ball, and thrust it into Garchomp's chest, where it exploded.

"Aqua Tail!"

Garchomp spun back from his shock and smacked Alakazam with his water-infused tail.

Alakazam didn't seem to be too badly hurt.

"Focus Blast!" Alakazam raised his hands to his forehead, where the red gemstone glowed and fired a crimson colored energy attack.

Garchomp managed to dodge this.

"Earthquake!"

"Use Psychic to avoid it!"

Garchomp stomped the floor, making the tower's clay tiles shake, but Alakazam simply hovered up and out of harm's way.

"Then take our strongest attack! Garchomp, Draco Meteor!"

Garchomp spat a fireball into the air, which broke into miniature asteroids, which rained down on Alakazam.

Both Pokemon were scratched up, but we had one more move to use.

"Ready for a surprise, Zinnia? Alakazam, Dazzling Gleam!"

Alakazam's five spoons rotated in a circle, and began to glow brighter and brighter. A bright explosion rocked the tower, and when the dust settled, Alakazam stood over an unconscious Garchomp.

Zinnia chuckled, "That's what we all remember you for, Brendan."

We recalled our Pokemon.

"You know, I've been thinking that I need to expand my horizons." Zinnia spoke.

"Hm. How are you gonna do that?"

"What a lot of great trainers do, travel the world. I'll go to other regions, battle others, see what I'm made of. Test my mettle, I guess."

"I suppose I won't be seeing you around then." I replied.

"Not all that often."

"Well Zinnia, if that's what you want; go for it. Life is for you to decide." I told her.

"Thanks, Brendon." She smiled.

With that, she hopped onto her Altaria's back, and flew off into the wild blue yonder.


End file.
